Ice Crystals
by Dolphy
Summary: Another collection of one-shots and drabbles about Jack Frost and the Guardians, everything from angst, hurt/comfort to humor, whatever I feel like writing. No pairings / romance! Rated T just to be on the safe side. Content is better than this lame summary. XD
1. Of Failure and Protecting

**A/N: Hi everyone! ^^ I've been wondering if I should actually start my own fanfiction after falling in love with this awesome movie and reading so many great stories here. Have been suffering from a bad writer's block for over 5 years but RotG cured it, it's so inspiring! :)**

**Okay, enough of my rambling, I hope you enjoy this and I really hope I didn't repeat anything you've probably already read somewhere else. There are so many fanfictions out there that it's hard to come up with something new, but I'll try. ^^**

* * *

„Sandy, come on, we can find Pitch!"

The words still rang in his ears as he watched the little golden man being swallowed by the nightmare sand in horror.

How could he have been so stupid, going after the boogeyman to face him on his own while the other guardians were knocked out cold?

It happened in the heat of the moment, he guessed. Collecting the teeth together with the famous legends had been such a blast, he couldn`t remember the last time he had so much fun.

Of course, doing something with friends, or at least aquaintances, was a lot more enjoyable than entertaining yourself or desperately trying to make people notice you, which always ended in dissappointments anyway.

For once in his life he felt useful, needed and like he could deal with every obstacle the world threw at him.

And then the nightmare appeared in front of Jamie's window. He didn't think much…in hindsight not the best option…and wanted to show everyone what he was capable of.

That was his first mistake.

Wait, no, the first mistake had been setting the alarm clock off. Without the sudden noise that greyhound wouldn`t have run amok, Bunny, North and Tooth wouldn`t have been accidentally knocked out by Sandy's dreamsand and they could have planned something more decent than his idea of 'Let's follow the dark horse and give the boogeyman the beating of his life!'

He should have waited for them to wake up, but noooo, he had to jump into danger right away.

That moment he had sealed the fate of one of his newly found friends.

He wasn't sure if 'friends' was the right word after he had only known them for a day, but then again they were the first people in 300 years to actually talk to him nicely. Even though they only did it because the Man in the Moon told them so. Only because they needed his help.

Jack shook his head to push the unwanted thoughts out of his mind but still one remained :

After finally finding 'friends', he had already failed them after a few hours.

With all his might he dashed through the sky towards Sandy who was being absorbed by the black sand more with every passing second. He couldn't allow this to happen, he couldn't allow him to die! Not because of his own recklessness! With rising panic he urged the wind to let him fly faster, once more not thinking about what exactly he was going to do once he reached the monstrous cloud of darkness, just focusing on reaching Sandy before it was too late.

And then the last glimmer of golden sand vanished between the threatening black swirls.

Jack's world broke into pieces.

"No…" he muttered under his breath, shocked, unbelieving, not wanting to accept what had just happened.

He had failed. He had been too slow. He hadn't been strong enough.

Anger welled up inside of him, anger directed at himself, at Pitch and at the other guardians for not saving Sandy either. And then he exploded.

"NOOOOOO!" he screamed as he rocketed through the depressing grey sky straight towards the boogeyman.

He couldn't just accept Sandy's death, even though it had no use anymore, he had to _do _something!

His focus on Pitch was lost as a wall of nightmares rose in front of him and took him by surprise. Everything that he was left to feel was a sudden impact and rough dark sand surrounding every inch of his body.

He was scared…but more than that, he was furious. That son of a *** had just killed Sandy and now he was aiming at the remaining guardians, convinced that noone was able to stop him.

Determination got the best of him. He wouldn't allow them to get hurt or even killed, he had failed Sandy, he wouldn't fail the others as well.

What happened next was all like a blur.

Power, a never before felt power, cold and warm and electrifying all at the same time, rose inside of him and once he thought it would rip him apart he let it all erupt with a loud and pained scream.

And then the world went blank.

He had no idea how long he had been out, but when he came back to his senses he found himself lying in the sleigh. Tooth was kneeling beside him with a worried expression on her face, while Bunny and North just stared at him in shock.

"Jack, how did you do that?"

He blinked and tried to sit up, but his whole body hurt and felt like all energy had been sucked out of him. But looking at the grey sky and the lack of Pitch or any trace of nightmare sand whatsoever assured him he had been successful. He was too drained, emotionally and physically to feel happy about it, though.

"I…I didn't know I could…."

In fact he didn't. Never had he needed to use this kind of power before. Well, it would have been handy during those occasions when other spirits decided to give him a hard time, but back then he hadn't felt _that_ aggravated. Scared? Yes. Miserable? Very. Angry? Sure. But this time was different. For this time, he wasn't worried about his own well-being.

This time, he was protecting someone else.

And he hoped they could someday forgive him his failure concerning Sandy.

But he knew for sure he would never forgive himself.


	2. Baking Fail

It was a quiet day at the North Pole.

Too quiet.

North knew that Jack was roaming his workshop and it rarely didn't end in some kind of catastrophe. The winter spirit had come for a visit a few hours ago and was told to go find something to occupy himself with since the big Russian was busy creating ice prototypes for new toys. If this had been a wise suggestion was nothing more than a rhetorical question.

After finishing a rollercoaster and a delicate paradise bird sculpture the old Santa Clause set his tools aside and decided to take a little break. Leaning back in his comfortable chair he closed his eyes and enjoyed the silence.

Until he got that infamous feeling in his belly.

Something was up, he just knew it.

With a deep sigh he stood up and walked towards the door of his office, already expecting to be met with his workshop on fire or frozen elves or pink-dyed yetis or whatever else the frost boy had thought of to entertain himself. It took him a bit by surprise when he opened the big wooden door and saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Still looking around suspicious North wondered if Jack maybe had gotten bored and left again. He glanced at the scene around him.

The yetis were bustling around, working on the toys and transporting them to their destined storages while the elves were running between their feet trying ( and failing ) to be of any help. Some were chasing after a few individuals of their group who had managed to get their hands on cookies and had to deal with the greedy and envious wrath of those who wanted them as well.

Speaking of cookies, it was time for a snack! For a moment he forgot his worry and headed straight for the kitchen as a sudden _'Boom!' _which sounded disturbingly much like an explosion rang through the hall. Everyone looked around to locate where the noise had come from and North groaned when realization hit him.

The kitchen.

Once more his belly had been right.

With big footsteps he stormed towards the source of the commotion and did his best to not step on the elves who were running out of the kitchen in panic. Black smoke and the disgusting smell of burned…whatever it was flowed out of the door as Santa's little helpers fled in all directions.

So maybe it wasn't Jack after all, it wouldn't have been the first time the elves caused havoc while fooling around.

North felt slightly guilty for already blaming the youngest guardian before he had even seen what was going on.

As he pushed the door open all he could do was stare dumbfounded at the sight in front of him.

There he was, their youngest teammember, with his raised shepherd's staff pointing at the oven which still had clouds of dark smoke forcing their way out of it.

"Oh damnit!" he coursed while shooting his ice magic into it to distinguish the smoke.

Only when the sickening smell reached North's nose and caused him to cough did Jack notice that he was busted.

"Uh, hi North!" he said casually and leaned against his staff in a desperate effort to act like everything was under control.

"I was…uhm, well-"

The Russian Santa raised a hand that signaled him to stop and just let out an overacted dramatic sigh.

"Is alright, Jack, just…clean up this mess."

The door closed after him and he vaguely noticed the winter spirit yell in shock as another wave of flames and smoke erupted from the demolished oven. He immediately continued to combat it with his ice power and as North walked back to his office he thought he heard his young comrade curse at the smoke like it was the boogeyman himself.

He really had to give the lad a lecture about not using foul words in that volume…and keep him away from the kitchen…and everything that had the ability to explode.


	3. Shoes of Doom

**A/N: Thank you for the favourites, follows and reviews! :D**

* * *

„North, don't make me use this." Jack challenged as he aimed his staff at the two elves in front of him

The little guys were presenting the blue pointy shoes like they had done the first time the winter spirit had been invited – or rather kidnapped – into Santa's workshop.

"Why are you so stubborn, I am just asking to try them on once."

The argument had lasted around half an hour already but North remained calm and rational. In fact he had to hold himself back from laughing out loud when he had seen Jack's shocked expression. As if he had just told him that he was planning to move the workshop to the Sahara Desert.

"I don't need shoes."

"Of course you don't, but just try them on and see how it looks on you."

"I'll look like a freaking elf."

Jack shuddered violently to emphasize his aversion against the idea.

"Elves don't wear shoes."

"Hah! Gotcha! Neither do the yetis, so why should I?"

The big Russian crossed his arms and said with a no-nonsense tone :

"Because you are guardian. Children will not see elves or yetis, so does not matter how they look. But when they see you don't you want to look good?"

There was a moment of silence with the two just staring at each other. North was sure he had won their little argument.

"Seriously?" Jack questioned, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "They'll think I'm a retarded ice elf instead of the spirit of winter when they see me running around in _those_!"

He pointed his staff at the ridiculous shoes on the floor. The elves had gotten fed up and had just dropped them and where now sitting on each side, casually watching the scene and waiting for the fuss to be over.

"By the way, I'll never hear the end of it when Bunny or Jamie see me wearing those. I have an image to keep, you know?" he added.

Surely the shoes must have taken quite an effort to be made, the designs were delicate and beautiful in their own way, but those horrible pointy ends and the bells which rang with every move and the fact that it were _shoes _just didn't cope with him. He had never worn shoes since he could remember and there was no reason to start now. They were useless and the thought of his feet being stuck in them sounded as appealing as being shoved into a sack and thrown though a magic portal, thank you very much!

North mustered the young man who stood defiantly in front of him.

"You really do not like shoes, do you?"

"No kidding."

"So there is no way I can persuade you?"

"Nope."

A deep defeated sigh escaped the Russian's lungs.

"Well…I thought it would be nice gift for you. I am sorry that you don't like them."

Ooooh no…no no no no no! Not the guilt trip tactic!

Jack couldn't believe that old Father Christmas had really sunk so low. But what if it wasn't a tactic? What if it was the truth and he had insulted his goodwill towards him?

Noone had ever given him a gift, he should have been more grateful for it.

He groaned inwardly at the realization that he was without a doubt the first person ever to reject a gift from Santa.

A quick glance at the shoes involuntarily made him cringe again. Why couldn't it have been something else…_anything _else?

North maintained his dissappointed expression as he watched the winter boy obviously struggling with his own stubborness and guilt feelings. His plan was working. It took a while but he remained patient and waited for the result of Jack's internal battle with himself.

The elves on the floor had dozed off by the time he had finally made up his mind. A loud exasperated groan startled them awake, causing them to look around in panic.

"Ugh, okay, FINE." he said much to his own dismay.

With a less than eager gesture he picked up the shoes of horror and sat down on the nearby couch. North had to gather all his self-control to not make a little spontaneous victory dance.

"Thank you, Jack." he smiled from one ear to the other.

"I'll only try them on for you, okay? I won't wear them much, especially not where other people can see me. It's…nice that you made them for me, but…they're just not my thing, you know?"

"Is okay, I just want to see you in them once."

One more groan and looking like he was going to throw himself into hot lava Jack finally gave up and slid his feet into the blue shoes.

North seemed pleased while Jack just felt…constricted…uncomfortable…and frankly, like a complete idiot.

"Walk around a bit, you must get used to them."

The old Russian obviously was more excited about this than the youngest guardian.

Refusing to mention that he didn't want to get used to them since he had no intention of making them a permanent part of his outfit, Jack started to slowly walk a few steps around the room.

Gheez, how could humans constantly wear stuff like that, it felt horrible!

After a few moments which seemed like hours to him he stopped and faced North again.

"Okay, that's it, sorry, but they just don't- WHOA!"

A sudden white flash of light blinded him and he hid his face in his hands to protect his eyes from the brightness.

"What the…"

He blinked a few times to regain his vision back and was literally frozen in horror as he saw Bunny jumping out from his hiding place behind a heap of toys. Grinning wickedly. With a camera in his paws.

"Looks dandy on ya, Frostbite."

Jack's ability to talk had gone on vacation and all he could do was stare at North in shock, betrayal evident on his face.

"You…..youuuuuuuu!"

That was everything it took for the two older guardians to explode with laughter as they dropped to the floor.

"North, how could you?!" Jack finally managed to blurt out.

"Sorry, Jack!"

The apology didn't really sound convincing between hiccups of laughter.

"Nah, don't…be mad, Frosty, they….suit ya!"

Bunny was having a hard time not choking on his own amusement as well.

When he realized that he was still wearing the killers of his dignity on his feet he hurried to get them off of him and threw them into the corner of the room.

"Frostbite?"

"What?!" he snapped.

"Are ya blushin' purple?"

Jack awkwardly turned his back on them and pulled the hood of his shirt over his head.

"I hate you guys." he said, not being serious but just to get his point of utter dismay across.

"Sorry, Jack!"

And still, North was laughing like a maniac while holding his belly.

The winter spirit glared at them but couldn't suppress a smile at the sight. Wasn't everyday you saw the Easter Bunny and Santa Clause rolling around on the floor while suffocating on their own laughter.

With an evil grin he threw his staff over his shoulder and slowly walked away before glancing back at them.

"You know my revenge will be bitter."


	4. Frosty Eggs 1

**A/N: Next one! And reviews would reeeaaally make me happy. ^^**

* * *

„Please?"

„No."

„Pleeeeaaase?"

„Nooo!"

„Please, please, please, please, pleaaaasssse?"

"No, no, no, no, noooooo!"

"Oh come on, don't make me beg!"

"Ye're already beggin', Frostbite."

"Okay, I hoped I wouldn't have to do this, but you leave me no other option."

The Easter Bunny raised a mildly curious eyebrow at the winter spirit and was faced with what could only be described as the _perfectio_n of a puppy look and pouty lips. The boy had lowered his head so he was staring up at the taller guardian in an attempt to look even more adorable. Noone would be able to resist this level of cuteness.

"Ya look like an idiot." Bunny said with a non-impressed expression.

Definitely _not_ the reaction he was hoping for.

Jack wouldn't admit it, but he had found his master concerning stubborness and slowly he was getting frustrated.

"Hmpf, fine, then tell me why not."

"1. You in my Warren, that's bound ta end in disaster.

2. Next Easter has ta make up for the fail of last Easter, I can't risk ya messin' it up.

3. Noone but me ever designed the eggs.

4. You in my Warren is bound ta end in disaster."

"1. is the same as 4…."

"Yeah, because it's the most obvious one of all."

"Oh gheez, I'm not asking to take your job and push you into retirement, I just wanna help you with painting some eggs!"

"And I don't see why that should be necessary, mate."

That's it, he _was_ frustrated now. With an annoyed groan he turned his back on the grey rabbit and started to grumpily walk away from him.

"Why's it so important ta you?"

Jack halted in his tracks. He thought this would be easier, he didn't wanna pour out his heart in front of Bunny. After all, he didn't ask for much, but apparently it was a big deal to the Easter guardian.

"Well?"

"I…."

Jack bit on his lip. He had never been good at talking about his feelings. Heck, ne never _had_ anyone he could have talked to about his feelings.

"Not gettin' younger here, Frosty."

The young guardian inhaled deeply.

"Okay, firstly, I wanted to make up for ruining Easter this year. Got it? And secondly, I…I still don't have many believers, so I thought…if I designed some eggs maybe…maybe some more kids would believe in me…"

Great, now he had made himself the perfect victim for some snarky reply from the Easter Kangaroo. What he didn't expect was the awkward silence and Bunny staring at him with an unreadable expression.

After what felt like an eternity the pooka stood up from the sofa in the main hall of the North Pole where he had been sitting on, brushed non-existant dust out of his fur and passed his fellow winter spirit nonchalantly. Only when he was right next to him he stopped and put a furry paw on his small shoulder, while looking at a spot on the empty wall which seemed to be very interesting for some odd reason.

"Meet me at the Warren tomorrow morning, mate, and don't be late, I know ya have a dislike fer bein' on time."

If his gaze hadn't been fixed on the blank space in front of him he would have noticed the rare genuine and grateful smile on Jack's face.


	5. Frosty Eggs 2

Jack was excited.

Bunny seriously had allowed him to come to his Warren and paint some eggs.

For others it might not have sounded like a big deal. But regarding the fact that their past encounters, up to the moment he was chosen as a guardian and helped defeating Pitch, didn't really end on good terms and that their rivalry still continued, it _was_ a big deal to him.

A sign of trust above all.

Everyone knew of the pooka's dislike for cold weather, so Jack was going to do his best to control his powers and not turn the Warren into a winter wonderland. Though it surely would look nice…

He hadn't been to Bunny's home since last Easter and that was already a few months ago. It all looked exactly like he had remembered, the flowery meadows, hills and rocks covered by lush grass and exotic plants, big trees providing shade and the river of colourful dye peacefully flowing through it all.

It was warmer than he normally prefered, but he could deal with it. No matter if winter spirit or human, each had their spectrum of what they could take, temperature-wise. In his 300 years of existence Jack had noticed people complaining about the weather, no matter what it was like. Too cold, too hot, too rainy, too dry, too windy, too foggy. There always was something they didn't like or weren't comfortable with. That didn't necessarily mean it was threatening their lives. Just the very extremes. For him, it was the same. Being stuck in a desert or spending days in a tropical area could get dangerous for him, but some hours in the Warren, nope, he would survive it without a problem.

"You're late."

The sudden statement ripped him from his thoughts. He looked at the grey 6'1" rabbit who was leaning behind a tree and applying paint to an egg in his paw.

"I'm not!"

"It's 10 am."

"That _is_ morning, you know."

"No, that's forenoon."

"Splitting hairs, that's what it is."

Bunny shot Jack a slightly disgruntled look. For a warrior, he was quite a pedant.

The teen sighed and decided it was better to apologize. He didn't want to be kicked out before he hadn't managed to show the taller guardian that he could be helpful.

"Okay, I admit, I forgot the time difference between Burgess and Australia, but I swear I wanted to be on time!"

Jack gripped his staff a little tighter as he awkwardly waited for some kind of reaction.

"Are ya gonna stand there like a snowman or d'ya wanna paint some eggs?" the pooka asked, not taking his eyes from the egg in his paw as he patted the patch of grass next to him.

Relieved and excited he hurried to the Easter guardian.

After putting his staff against the tree the young spirit sat down cross-legged and studied the supplies around them.

Cans of all kinds of paint were covering the ground, some matte, some glossy, others with glitter or metallic effects. Brushes in different sizes where neatly spread over a bag which without a doubt was where Bunny stowed them when not needed. A few bowls of colourful water to rinse and clean said brushes and a wooden palette with paint smeared all over it completed the equipment.

Jack's eyes widened as he noticed the heap of eggs partly hidden by the pooka's presence. Each one showed a unique and more or less intricate, but beautiful nonetheless, design and all kinds of possible colour combinations.

"Have you…done all that today already?" he asked in awe.

For the first time during their meeting he looked at his younger comrade and followed his gaze towards the small mountain of Easter eggs to his left.

"Yeah, but they're just rough designs."

"Rough…designs." Jack repeated incredulously.

"It surely ain't eggs for next Easter, mate, still many months ta go and the lil' googies would rot until then. Those- " he pointed at them nonchalantly, "-are samples, so ta say. Just empty shells. Doesn't exactly make 'em easier ta paint, so watch out."

"Alright…uhm, can you give me any advice how to start?" Jack rubbed his neck awkwardly, he hadn't imagined it would be so…intimidating to work with a legend.

'_Rough designs'_, he'd be happy if he could produce an egg which looked half as nice as those _'rough designs'_.

"For the basic coat of paint ya best take one of the big brushes and dependin' on how small and delicate yer designs are ya gotta need a thin one. And be sure that the paint has dried before ya apply another colour or ya'll get an egg that'll look like a Picasso."

The boy pondered for a moment which colours to choose, then grabbed an indigo blue can and a medium sized brush.

He started to apply the basic layer. Too hard, because the thin shell of the egg cracked under the touch.

Jack winced and inconspiciously put the damaged egg back on the pile of blank eggs and took a new one.

Bunnymund noticed it but didn't say anything.

He tried again, this time with more careful strokes. Although the paint was drying pretty fast it still turned out to be quite a challenge to paint all sides of the egg without getting his fingers coloured as well.

How the heck did Bunny do that with his big furry paws? It bordered on a miracle.

After he decided it looked alright Jack scanned his surroundings for inspiration concerning the ornaments he was supposed to cover the egg with. Not being able to think of anything better at the moment, he dipped a small brush in the can with lavender paint and started to get some flowery shapes on it.

Bunnymund glanced at the spirit and had to snort. Never had he seen his fellow teammember so concentrated and…tensed. Tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth, eyes fixed on the egg, crouching in a position that seemed far from comfortable. And a death grip on the brush.

"Mate, relax. Ya're holding a brush there, not a bloody knife."

Jack looked up from his task with a raised eyebrow, not getting what the pooka was talking about.

"Huh?"

"Let go of the brush for a moment."

The winter spirit did as he was told.

"Now loosen your hand, shake it a bit, or ya'll get a cramp."

Again Jack did just that. Bunny smirked.

"And now go make me a sandwich."

"If I'm allowed to freeze it so you'll bite out your lovely front teeth, sure."

"Was worth a try, not used ta ya obeying me so willingly, Frostbite."

This time it was Jack's turn to snort.

"Whatever, I just wanna do this right, okay?"

"Okay. But ya're doin' art here, not attacking an enemy. So keep that in mind when ya take that brush again."

Under the watchful eye of the Easter guardian the frost boy continued painting flowers on the egg, which turned out…well, let's say a toddler could have hold his ground against his artistic abilities. The shapes were all splotchy and the different colours mixing with each other and in general, it looked like someone tried to apply amateurish abstract art onto an egg, rather than decorate it with delicate ornaments.

"Well, mate, that looks…interesting." Bunnymund stated and couldn't withhold a mischievous smirk from his face.

If Jack had felt embarassed by his lack of talent for art before, he totally felt his pride kicked by the kangaroo's huge feet now. A purple blush creeped onto his cheeks as he threw the egg out of view ( the proof of his failure had to be destroyed ) and glared at him.

"Nevermind, that was just a trial egg."

"_Trial_ egg?"

Oh, how Jack hated that amused tone of the pooka's voice.

"Yeah, _trial_ egg. Let me experiment a bit before I actually begin."

With a grumpy _'Hmpf'_ the young guardian picked up a new egg and started anew, determined to proove the giant rabbit that he was able to produce a decent Easter egg himself.

However, it turned out equally abominable as his first try. And Bunnymund didn't miss a second of the egg's demise.

"Would you stop staring at me?" Jack snapped disgruntled.

"Sorry, mate, this is too entertainin'."

Before he was able to rub even more salt in the wound, Jack groaned in frustration and stood up.

"I can't work when you keep staring at me like a vulture." he grumbled, took some painting supplies and blank eggs and walked a few feet away to another tree.

There, partially hidden behind some bushes and a safe distance away from his comrade, he could concentrate a lot better, even though he still wasn't sure how he could impress him with his egg-painting-abilities…or lack thereof. That damn paint kept smearing all over the surface and he didn't know which ornaments he should grace them with. He looked around, painting flowers just wasn't his thing. Sighing in defeat he absent-mindedly rested his hand on the ground right next to the tree and watched as delicate frost patterns wandered up the trunk.

Suddenly a stroke of genius hit him.

"_That's it!"_

With reborn motivation he painted the basic layer royal blue. To avoid risking that the following colours would smudge again he blew softly on the egg, his cold breath successfully drying and sealing the paint. Then he touched the trunk again, since the faint traces of ice had already melted in the warm climate of the Warren. Jack studied the intricate design of the fern-like frost for a moment and carefully transferred it onto the egg with pale-blue paint and the thinnest brush he could find.

A smile creeped on his face as he realized this actually worked!

When he was done with the egg, the first one today which didn't look like a survivor of a car accident, the winter spirit smiled even more. Yep, that's definitely much better!

Now that he got the hang of it he immediately took the next one of Bunny's 'googies', this time garnishing it with a dark purple paint as base and bright green ornaments. They were similar to his previously drawn frost shapes, but curlier and resembling plants a little more.

The next egg soon shone in metallic bright blue colours and detailed snowflake patterns, another one in glittery dark indigo with stars and a crescent moon.

Jack was so into it that he had no idea how much time had passed. Apparently a lot, because even the Guardian of Easter had gotten fed up with painting eggs and needed a break.

The poor winter spirit almost suffered a heart-attack when the large rabbit looked over his shoulder. He was concentrating so much on his handicraft that he hadn't even noticed the pooka approaching him from behind.

Fortunately Bunnymund's reflexes were fast enough to avoid Jack's elbow as he yelped in surprise.

"Damnit, DON'T creep up on me like that!"

"Ey, calm down, Frostbite, just wanted ta see how many of my googies ya've slaughtered yet."

Just was he wanted to further aggravate the young man, who was glaring at him with a miffed expression, and let out another snarky comment something caught his attention.

"Are these yours?" he asked flabbergasted as he bent down and mustered the neatly painted eggs.

"Eh, yeah?"

Under normal circumstances Jack would have retorted the redundant question with a good amount of sarcasm, but right now he was too anxious about how Bunny's judgement would turn out.

The Easter guardian gently took one of the eggs in his furry hand and Jack wished he would stop studying its patterns and just say something.

"I dunno what ya did, mate, but they ain't bad." he finally replied, surprise evident on his face.

"You gotta be kidding me…that almost sounded like a..._praise_?"

Jack raised a suspicious eyebrow at him. He expected another comment like 'Pretty good for an artistically challenged icicle' or something.

Bunnymund snorted.

"Don't make this harder for me than it already is, but I gotta admit…they're pretty good."

For a moment the pooka had battled the urge to take advantage of his fellow guardian's distress for the hell of it. But since he had really done his best and actually achieved a presentable result it was reason enough to show him a little recognition. That and the fact that he hadn't caused a mess in the hours he'd been in the Warren, which was a miracle itself.

However, as the words left his mouth he was ready for Jack gloating about it.

What he didn't expect was the winter spirit beaming with joy, eyes wide, a grin that reached from one ear to the other one. He looked like a child on Christmas Eve who had just opened the present he always wanted but never thought he would get.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really."

Jack's expression turned a little doubtful again.

"If that's a joke it seriously isn't-"

"It's no joke, mate. Ghee, can't ya handle a compliment when ya get one?"

He could have sworn he saw the boy's shoulders sink a little.

"It's just…weird when it comes from you."

There was an awkward silence between the two.

It was true, Bunny rarely had nice words for Jack, and more often than not they were soaked in sarcasm or followed by a witty remark.

After a few moments, in which only the soft ripple of the river of dye was to be heard, the Australian cleared his throat and sat down next to his friend.

Jack flinched a little as a heavy arm was placed around his shoulders.

"Ya know, ya're a pain in the butt sometimes, and I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but if ya want ya can help me with the eggs for next Easter. And _no_, this isn't a joke."

He smiled himself as he saw that earnest happy grin reappear on Jack's face.

"Cool." was all he managed to reply.

"And if ya freeze my sentinel eggs to the ground again, I'm gonna throw ya into the river of dye."

"Awww, damn, you don't know how to have fun."

Bunny grabbed him by the neck and ruffled his hair, much to the frost boy's protests.

He struggled to escape the firm grip but the pooka was too strong and continued to give him a noogie.

"Oh, I do, mate, I do."


	6. The Curse of Sparkling Teeth

**A/N: Thank you for the new favourites and follows! If you have a few seconds of spare time, some reviews would be great. ^^**

* * *

It had been an exhausting day for Jack Frost.

First he had been busy spreading blizzards in North Canada and then he had spent the afternoon with creating the biggest snowball fight ever for Jamie and his friends. It had lasted for hours and wouldn't have ended already if the children's parents hadn't called them back in when it started to get dark outside. Jack wasn't sure if he had produced hundreds or thousands of snowballs for them, but right now it felt like thousands, if not more.

He was drained.

With the last bits of energy he flew back to the North Pole and was glad the wind carried him so he didn't have to use too much strenght himself.

When he arrived at North's workshop he entered the globe room through an open window and landed on the wooden floor, looking around for the big Russian. He was nowhere to be seen, so Jack assumed he would be in his office or checking the toys or something.

Just as he wanted to head for the hallway his gaze stopped at an alluringly comfortable looking couch.

He was really tired. Damn tired. A short nap wouldn't hurt.

As soon as he had lain down and his head rested against the soft fabric he fell into a deep slumber.

He had totally forgotten that it was the day of the monthly guardian meeting.

* * *

The Tooth Fairy was the first of the other guardians to arrive. She always was too early in worry of letting the others wait. Usually they showed up only a few minutes later than her so she didn't mind being the only one in the globe room so far.

After scanning her surroundings she noticed that she wasn't alone, though.

There, on a red velvet couch, lay her favourite winter spirit, sleeping soundly. He looked pretty cute even when he wasn't awake. She flew closer towards him and on further inspection something else caught her attention. His mouth was slightly opened while he was taking slow shallow breaths, revealing his perfect white teeth.

For some reason the Guardian of Fun didn't like people putting their fingers in his mouth, so Tooth only had been able to take a glimpse at them during their first meeting.

But now, oh the situation was too tempting. He would never know. But wouldn't that go too far?

Her worries were pushed away the moment her eyes landed on his pearly incisors again.

It was time to take a closer look.

Slowly and carefully she fluttered down to the sleeping boy. Just as her fingers were less than an inch away from him he closed his mouth, shifted a bit and then went back into the same position. Tooth didn't move a muscle until she was sure he was still asleep. After letting out a breath she hadn't noticed she had been holding, she resumed her plan and approached her victim.

With a gentle touch she opened his mouth further to have a better look and had to hold herself back from swooning over the most beautiful and whitest teeth she had ever seen. They really sparkled like freshly fallen snow and she couldn't take here eyes from them.

Petite fingers glided over the smooth ivory surfaces, amazed at the perfection in front of her.

* * *

Jack woke up to the feeling of having something in his mouth that sure as hell didn't belong there. He opened his eyes and the first thing he saw were green and yellow feathers mere milimeters away from him and big purple eyes staring at his face.

"_AAHHH!"_

With a loud yelp he had flinched away from the intruder of his personal space, who fortunately withdrew their fingers from his mouth in an instant, and fell off the couch while doing so.

"Ouch!"

"Jack, are you alright?" Tooth asked in panic and joined him on the floor.

Aforesaid winter spirit looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Don't…._ever_…do that again!" he gasped.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I don't know what got into me!"

"What the hell were you doing any-" he started when it suddenly dawned on him and he noticed her guilty and more than embarassed expression.

"Nevermind."

"I'm sorry, oh that was so uncalled for, I really _am_ sorry!" she sobbed and threw her arms around him.

"Uhm…it's okay, Tooth, really…" he assured her as he put his arm around her and patted her back awkwardly.

North, Bunny and Sandy decided this was the perfect moment to enter the globe room. And apparently they completely misinterpreted the sight in front of them.

The looks on North's and Sandy's faces ranged from confused to questioning while Bunny just rolled his eyes and muttered "Ghee, get a room, you two!"

Yes, this day was exhausting indeed.


	7. Fluffy Hair

„Hey, Baby Tooth, you okay?"

Jack floated down to the little fairy who had landed on a pile of pony plush toys and noticed that her tiny cheeks had a flushed tint to them.

Maybe they had overdone it.

* * *

It was no secret that Baby Tooth was Jack's favourite of Toothiana's fairies and the hummingbird-hybrid had grown very attached to him during the battle against Pitch. So the Guardian of Memories had decided to give her one day off each month and allowed her to spend that day completely with the winter spirit. Who quickly started to use this opportunity to pull his small friend to the mischievous side and show her his version of fun.

What had started with Baby Tooth merely watching the pranks he pulled on people ( and being highly entertained by it ) soon led to them both working together and sometimes she even suggested who their next victim might be.

Today they had the glorious idea to tie dozends of teeny pink bows, which were originally created for some Barbie-like dolls, to Phil's fur while he was taking a nap. Baby Tooth was of great help when it came to applying them since she could perform this task much better with her tiny hands. Jack struggled a bit more which almost resulted in Phil waking up when he had pulled too strong on the yeti's fur. Both winter spirit and tooth fairy hadn't moved an inch until they were sure the hairy creature was still in the land of dreams.

However, sooner or later he had to wake up and unfortunately it was before the two troublemakers could flee out of sight. They froze in their tracks for a moment, stared at him in shock and then, with a casual grin and wave of their hands, dashed down the hallway.

Phil just looked mildly confused and had a suspicious feeling that the frost boy and his pet fairy were up to no good. If another yeti hadn't passed by and landed on the floor in a laughing fit while pointing at his co-worker, he probably wouldn't have noticed that there was anything different about his appearance. Well, unless he had taken a look at his shoulders and chest, which were graced with at least 20 little bows. Pink bows. He _hated_ pink.

At least he couldn't see the other dozend bows in his beard yet, but he assumed the worst.

The faint mischievous laugh in the distance set him off and the huge creature ran in the direction his assaulters had fled to. It didn't take long to find them, he just had to follow the giggles and whoops of joy.

"Don't celebrate your victory too soon." he thought.

On the fourth floor of the workshop, where the other yetis were painting toy planes, doll houses and robots, he caught them completely off guard. Jack was sitting on the banister and gave a high-five to Baby Tooth who was floating in front of him.

Only an angry huff, when he was coming nearer, alerted them of his presence.

"We gotta go!" the white-haired boy shouted and jumped down, the wind catching him right away, with Baby Tooth close on his heels.

Phil groaned in frustration but wasn't willing to accept his defeat.

He chased after them again and the pursuit lasted for well over two hours. Two hours of hiding, running, laughing, cursing, knocked over toys and more aggravated yetis.

Without a doubt it would have continued like this if North hadn't interjected and asked what the ruckus was about. A look at the with pink bows covered Phil already answered all questions he had and the Guardian of Wonder totally failed at not breaking out in laughter himself. As he regained his composure he walked towards his fellow helper and patted his shoulder.

"Looking good, Phil, now get back to work."

The yeti groaned in dissapproval and grumpily obeyed his boss's order. He wouldn't argue with Santa Clause.

* * *

"Phew, seems like we're off the hook." Jack muttered as he watched the scene while hiding behind a wooden pole.

After not getting a reply he scanned his surroundings for his feathery friend.

"Baby Tooth?"

Suddenly he saw her slowly fluttering towards some plush toys and slumping down on the soft fabric. With worry the teen hurried towards her and realized how exhausted she looked. Her cheeks were flushed and she gasped for air as her tiny body rested on the surface of a pale-blue pony with a rainbow coloured mane.

"You okay? Guess that was a little too much action for today, huh?" Jack asked, guilt apparent in his voice.

The little hummingbird nodded weakly and gave him a reassuring smile. She didn't want him to feel guilty because of her, she _did_ have fun and enjoyed every minute of it, no matter how exhausting the chase from Phil had been.

Before she could prevent it she had fallen asleep. Jack watched her for a moment to make sure she really was alright and suddenly felt that he was quite worn out and tired as well.

* * *

Without further hesitation he leaned against the pile of pleasantly soft stuffed toys, closed his eyes and soon was taking a nap well.

Baby Tooth was annoyed. She was exhausted and yet she kept waking up and tried to get into a more comfortable position. In vain. An almost inaudible sigh of frustration left her tiny mouth before she glanced at the winter spirit sleeping next to her. More exactly, at his alluringly fluffy looking hair. The little fairy groggily climbed down from the pony plush and onto her friend's head instead, where she gently hugged a white lock as replacement for a pillow. It didn't take long until she was sleeping soundly in her new improved _'nest'_.

* * *

How much time had passed, he didn't know. But when Jack awoke he felt charged with new energy. With one last loud yawn he stretched his limbs and looked around to see if Baby Tooth was still sleeping. Much to his surprise he didn't find her on the pile of pony plushies next to him and neither anywhere else as he scanned his surroundings.

"Baby Tooth?" he asked with slowly arising worry.

He felt responsible for the little fairy and if she didn't return to the Tooth Palace soon he was sure that Tooth herself would show up to pick her up. She already had to do that once and wasn't too happy about it.

Sighing in frustration, the winter spirit got up, grabbed his staff and wandered through the workshop. Once more he looked around to make sure Baby Tooth really wasn't hiding anywhere.

"If you're here, please come out, this is not funny. Tooth will kill me." he muttered.

No reply. He really was in trouble. The fact that the Tooth Fairy gave one of her best and most loyal workers a day off was reason enough to not abuse her kindness. Who knew, maybe she would take back that offer if Jack and the little fairy prooved to be not trustworthy. And he enjoyed their monthly day of mischief too much for letting that happen.

A glance at the big wooden hall clock he passed slowly set his panic mode off. Baby Tooth was supposed to be back at Toothiana's place in Asia in less than 20 minutes. She could still make it in time. _If_ he managed to find her. Or maybe she was already on her way back home? No, she never left without saying goodbye.

Jack passed by two yetis and asked them if they had seen the small hummingbird-hybrid. They just glanced at him dumbfounded and then snickered incomprehensible, let's call it _'words'_, at each other. The frost boy just rolled his eyes at their strange behaviour, not having a clue what this was about. He had bigger issues to deal with right now.

Several more yetis and elves mirrored this reaction whenever he asked them about Baby Tooth's whereabouts. This and the quickly approaching deadline were enough to drive even the Guardian of Fun to the edge.

"Okay, that's enough, does anyone here have a _remotely_ useful advice of where Baby Tooth could be?!" he growled in frustration.

All he got was more snickering and amused looks. Oh yeah, they obviously really liked seeing him in trouble. Traitors.

When he turned around to stomp away in anger he bumped into a wall of fur.

"Uh, hey Phil." Jack greeted him awkwardly.

The yeti had successful removed all the pink bows from his pelt…except one on his neck, but Jack assumed it was the wrong moment to point that out.

"We're cool, aren't we?" he grinned at him a little anxiously.

Once more he didn't get the reaction he wanted when Phil just glared at him with an expression that said _"I'd like to kill you, but North would banish me for it."_

"I take that as a 'no'…but uhm, you haven't seen Baby Tooth anywhere? Possibly?"

The hairy creature looked at him the same way the others had done and Jack really had to hold himself back from groaning in annoyance. Suddenly realization dawned on the yeti's features and he shot the white-haired boy an evil grin.

Jack however totally misinterpreted this and immediately got upset about what his stressed mind had come up with.

"Wait…do _you_ have anything to do with her dissappearing? Okay, we _maybe _went a little too far but that's no excuse to kidnap Baby Tooth, I swear if you did something to her then I-"

"JACK!"

The winter spirit winced as North's booming voice interrupted his tantrum. He turned around and looked over the banister, down to the globe room. Standing there were the big Russian and the Tooth Fairy, who didn't look too pleased. Jack gulped. Yes, he definitely was in trouble.

Preparing for the worst, he flew down to his comrades and didn't waste a second to justify himself.

"Alright, I know it's late and Baby Tooth should have been back, but we uh, pulled a little harmless, innocent prank on Phil and then we took a nap and when I woke up she was gone and I looked for her everywhere but couldn't find her and I bet Phil has something to do with-…okay, why is everyone staring at me like I've grown an extra head?!" he asked in irritation.

"Because you did." North said matter-of-factly, an amused tone in his voice.

At first Tooth had been ready to scold him but now she couldn't keep herself from giggling.

"Eh, what?" Jack muttered confused.

Had he missed something?

North called some elves and whispered an order to them, what exactly, Jack didn't understand. After a few moments, which lasted far too long with the two guardians staring and grinning at him, they had come back and handed him a silver hand mirror.

As he looked into it he finally realized what this had all been about.

There on his head, cuddled into his white locks, was Baby Tooth, slumbering with a content expression on her face. Gheez, that little fairy really was a sound sleeper! And no wonder he hadn't noticed her, she was as light as a feather.

"Oh." he stated casually.

North let out a hearty laugh while Tooth just stared at him like a child would stare at a cute little puppy. The sight was just so adorable.

"Sorry…I guess?"

"Aww, it's okay Jack, just make sure to not wear her out that much next time, can you promise that?"

"Yeah, of course. We'll just have to be more careful and prank someone who won't chase us all day." he shrugged.

The Tooth Fairy raised an eyebrow at him, North shook his head snorting and in the distance one could hear the approving grunt of a certain yeti.


	8. Advantage

_*Set during the movie*_

They only accepted him because they wanted to take advantage of him.

Jack couldn't get this thought out of his mind.

Why had the Man in the Moon chosen him as the next guardian? Surely not because he cared about the boy. If he had done so then he wouldn't have dumped him in the middle of nowhere and left him wandering around alone for 300 years. If he really did care he would have answered at least one of his desperate pleas, would have shown him compassion when he was longing for someone to see him, would have comforted him when he was crying, scared and lonely. But no, Manny had stayed quiet for all those centuries. Until now. Why now?

Because he knew of the winter spirit's power. Jack was his creation after all, sort of like his son. An abandoned son. He needed him to help the other guardians to defeat Pitch.

The Man in the Moon just wanted to take advantage of him.

If the boogeyman hadn't declared war on them then he would have left Jack roaming the world all alone for who knows how many future centuries.

What about North, Sandy, Tooth and Bunny? They weren't much better.

Around 25 years after he had arisen from the frozen lake, Jack had found out that the other spirits, guardians included, had been aware of his existence. They just didn't bother to acknowledge it. Well, despite a few spirits who held a grudge against him for no comprehensible reason whatsoever and used him as a living punching bag to relieve their stress now and then.

At least someone interacted with him, though it was far from pleasant.

He had attempted to break into North's workshop more than once, in fact he couldn't count the failed tries anymore, but he hadn't even managed to get near the big Russian. Though he was sure the yetis had alerted their boss of his antics.

The blizzard of '68 was the first and last time he actually talked to Bunny. Or rather argued.

It was all a big accident and misunderstanding, but why would anyone listen to what he had to say. Since that fatal Easter Sunday they weren't exactly on good terms with each other.

Sometimes he saw Tooth's little fairies on their way to and back from collecting teeth. Fast as lightning, busy like hell and completely concentrated on their task. Only rarely did they take notice of him and it wasn't more than a swoon when they caught a glimpse of his teeth before they had to turn back to their duties. He had never seen Toothiana until now.

What he enjoyed most in lonely nights was Sandy's dreamsand, the swirls of gold brightening the dark sky, a mere touch of his own fingers turning it into dolphins, his favourite animals. For Jack, they were a symbol of joy and happiness, he loved to watch them jump out of the water in groups of dozends. Apparently they liked playing and having fun as much as he did.

Once in a while, when the sandman actually was aware of his presence, he waved a hand at him and smiled. This silent greeting was the kindest action he had gotten from any spirit in his 300 years of existence.

Now a change was occuring. They talked to him. They were, with the exception of Bunny's obvious dissapproval, _nice_ to him.

But why?

The guardians hadn't invited, scratch that, _kidnapped_ him, because they finally realized how wrong it was to punish him with ignorance. No, they had done it because Manny told them so and because they needed him to protect the children of the world from Pitch. To protect themselves from vanishing. It was never about him. It was about his power.

They only wanted to take advantage of him.

It became even more painfully apparent after Pitch had attacked the Tooth Palace and Jack had been told that his baby teeth which held his memories had the answers to everthing he wanted to know. He had been shocked and excited all at once. Even the realization that the Nightmare King was in possession of his golden tooth box, as well as those of millions of children, couldn't extinguish the glimmer of hope in his heart. Finally he would find out who he had been, why he had been chosen and what he had done to deserve a life of isolation and coldness.

And still, the emphasizing of North's words hit a nerve.

"Jack, _IF_ you help us, we will get your memories."

_If_ he helped them. What was that supposed to mean? That if he refused to do it, they would hide and lock the answer to his most desperate questions for all eternity? It almost sounded like an extortion attempt.

Of course he wanted to help them, even without the prospect of a reward. While he had refused to work together with them at first, he had changed his mind as soon as he saw the nightmares attacking the tooth fairies. Tooth being devastated about the loss of the tooth boxes and her little helpers only confirmed his decision. He couldn't tell why exactly he felt the urge to kick the boogeyman's butt for what he had done, but he knew it was the right thing to do.

He didn't need do be blackmailed into it. Though the guardians seemed to think that it was necessary.

Because they needed to take advantage of him.

Later that night, after they had been successful at collecting the childrens' teeth in place of the kidnapped tooth fairies, Jack had almost forgotten his doubts, suppressed anger and paranoia.

Tooth and him were in Jamie's room, the boy who had involuntarily participated in the wild sleigh ride the day before, by courtesy of the winter spirit himself.

They had talked quietly for a moment when Tooth fluttered towards him with a sympathetic smile on her face.

"Thanks for being here, Jack. I wish I had known about your memories…I could have helped you."

"_You could have just talked to me then, you know."_

Jack bit his lip to hold back the words he immediately wanted to spit out. There was no doubt that the Tooth Fairy was honest and truly meant what she was saying. And still, his own bitterness about the situation gnawed at his mind. _Now _she suddenly seemed to care. Why not 200 years ago? Why not 100 years ago? She had known about his existence and was excited to meet him, why hadn't she approached him sooner?

Because until now she hadn't needed his help. She hadn't had a reason to search for his contact. She and the other guardians weren't in trouble back then.

But now they were. And they needed to take advantage of him.

Jack shook his head slightly and cursed himself for still wanting to help them. He was fed up with being alone, was fed up with everyone either passing through him, ignoring him or hating his guts. All he longed for was some company, nice words now and then, maybe even a hug.

Though in order to get that, he had to prove that he was worthy of their approval. He would show them that he was the right choice, that he would not dissappoint them.

Even if that meant that he had to let them take advantage of him.


	9. Jack's Revenge 1

**A/N : Thank you to the new followers and people who favourited this story! :)** **Come on guys, one or two reviews a chapter would really make my day. **

* * *

_Sequel to "Shoes of Doom"_

This was going to be hilarious.

Finally he would get his revenge. Noone messed with Jack Frost and got away with it. Not even Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny.

The shoe-incident had taken place weeks ago and he had racked his brain about what he could do as payback. North and Bunny had been suspicious and paranoid during that time, always expecting the spirit of winter to attack whenever they turned their backs on him. By now they had either forgotten about it or didn't assume he still held a grudge against them.

He did. And it was the perfect moment to avenge his damaged dignity.

Those shoes. That photo. The ridicule.

Jack shuddered at the memory as he gracefully landed on a windowsill at North's workshop and climbed inside. Oh yeah, Father Christmas would be the first to feel his wrath.

Snickering to himself and already picturing the effects of his plan the white-haired teen sneaked towards his destination. He had to pass the yetis on his way but fortunately they were too busy with their tasks to notice him. Except Phil who shot him a glare and made the "I'm watching you"-motion with his fingers. Jack raised an eyebrow and almost tripped over an elf who was hurrying after a little toy car.

All of a sudden a familiar Russian voice echoed through the halls.

"I don't like it, paint it red!"

The accused yeti really should have known better than painting the toy planes neon green.

It was worth a try, yet he obviously regretted the decision now, judging from his frustrated groan.

North was heading straight towards Jack so the frost boy quickly dodged behind the hiding place closest to him, a yeti. But not any yeti. He looked up in shock as realization hit him.

Though he couldn't see it, he could literally _feel_ the gloating grin on Phil's face.

"Good work fellas, continue like this! Only 4 more months till christmas! Phil, you seem to be in good mood today!"

The owner of the voice was dangerously close now. Jack held his breath to not make a sound that could give him away. A tiny naive part of him hoped that the yeti would play along.

Phil replied with a cheerful nod and stepped aside to reveal the winter spirit cowering behind his back.

With that, the tiny part of hope had kicked the bucket.

"Hey North!" Jack greeted and tried to look as casual as possible. "What's up?"

He heaved a mental sigh of relief when North didn't seem to be suspicious and just patted his shoulder a little too hard for his taste.

"Jack! Good to see you! Has been a while, hasn't it?"

Actually it had only been six days but the old man had grown quite accustomed to the youngster.

"Yeah, well, have been busy creating snow storms in Siberia and Canada and tried to refreeze some glaciers at the South Pole, you know global warming is a bitch…." Jack sputtered out and awkwardly rubbed his neck.

North uttered a hearty laugh.

"Yes, it truly is. So, what brings you here?"

"Uh…"

'_Okay, Jack, think of an excuse!'_

"I…was…hungry and thought I'd stop by for a snack?"

'_That should do.'_

"Good timing, elves are preparing cookies and fruit cake right now. Tell them I sent you, you need more meat on those skinny bones of yours, my boy."

"No reason to get personal, North." Jack folded his arms and stretched out his chest in a pathetic attempt to look more muscular than he was.

"Sorry, Jack, no offence intended."

The big Russian smiled and patted his shoulder again so hard that he almost stumbled forwards.

"Now excuse me, got to check if everything is going on schedule."

Jack let out a breath he hadn't noticed he'd been holding as he watched the Guardian of Wonder walk away from him.

Without further hesitation and more setbacks the winter teen hurried towards the kitchen, the place he had been aiming for right from the beginning.

A few elves were applying freshly made cookie dough onto a baking tray, ready to be shoved into the oven. North's favourite ones, double chocolate chip.

It was now or never.

"Hey guys, there are some leftovers in the dinner hall, apple cinnamon pie and some cookies as far as I can remember, thought you might be interested."

The little creatures had stormed out of the kitchen faster than you could say 'snowball fight'.

If anyone had been there, they would have described the look on Jack's face with something along the lines of 'utterly diabolic'.

He reached into his hoodie pocket and revealed a small bottle with a reddish liquid inside of it.

Tobasco. Extra hot.

Thankfully Jamie's Mom was very well equipped when it came to cooking supplies, so he had borrowed it from her. Without her consent or knowledge, but he intended to bring it back.

Before anyone would be able to foil his plan he opened the bottle and poured a few drops onto the raw cookies. Not being sure how much was needed to actually have the desirable effect on his victim Jack shrugged and applied even more of the spicy sauce.

When he heard footsteps coming nearer he quickly sealed the bottle and put it back in his pocket.

Of course the elves weren't happy and glared at him reproachfullly. There had been no leftovers.

"Sorry guys, my mistake." he apologized with faked sympathy and walked out of the room at leisure.

The elves didn't know that while they baked the cookies for Father Christmas a certain winter spirit was trying his best not to act like a stereotype villain of a hollywood movie. Evil laughter included.

After looking around for the perfect place to both hide and watch the scene unfold he decided that a big christmas tree one floor above and right across the kitchen would do.

He stepped behind it and peaked out to see what was going to happen next.

For a moment the thought stroke his mind that the elves might taste the cookies before North would be able to do it and ruin his revenge. That's why he was disturbingly excited when he saw the big Russian wandering towards the kitchen. Without a doubt had the smell of fresh cookies lured him there.

Moments passed and nothing happened. To Jack it felt like hours. Maybe something had gone wrong, maybe the tobasco wasn't as hot as he had hoped, maybe-

"_СВЯТОЕ __ДЕРЬМО__!"*_

Okay, it had worked.

How he wished he could have seen North's face right now, but the loud Russian curses had to do for the time being.

Suddenly the Christmas spirit, whose cheeks glowed even redder than usual, pushed the door open and stomped around in what could only be called sheer terror.

"Man in Moon have mercy on me! What the hell did you put in those cookies!?" he shouted at the dumbfounded elves.

Jack almost felt sorry for them, but North standing there with a flushed face and wide open mouth in a feeble attempt to let the fresh air cool down his burning tongue was far too hilarious.

He couldn't hold it back anymore.

The Guardian of Wonder, who had in fact been wondering what in blue blazes was going on, heard familiar mischievous laughter echoing through the workshop. It didn't take him long to figure out what this was about when he noticed Jack leaning on the wooden banister and looking down at him while laughing his head off.

"Gotcha!" he grinned tauntingly.

"Jack Frost! You-"

Santa Clause pointed at him with a beefy finger.

"Back on Naughty List!"

"My pleasure!"

And with that the spirit of winter had bunked and flown out of the nearest window.

It wasn't because he was afraid, he just didn't want his immortal life to end already.

Not before he had taken revenge on the Easter Bunny.

* * *

**_A/N : *_"_СВЯТОЕ __ДЕРЬМО_**_**!" = "Holy crap!" in Russi**_**an. **

**After this I doubt that I'll get any christmas presents this year. 8C**

**Next chapter will be Bunny's demise, njahahahaha! XD**


	10. Jack's Revenge 2

**A/N : Woa, thank you for all the comments / follows / favourites! *is happy* ^_^**

**Night-Fury1 : Tehehehe, only one way to find out. ;)**

**Wrath77 : Haven't planned to write about that yet, but my inspiration strikes randomly so I'm sure there might be a chapter about this sooner or later.**

**Arkangelsouls : Omg, that mental image is beyond disturbing! *lol* XD**

**JackrabbitFan777 : I'll try. ^^**

**Hanyoualchemist1 : A bag of coals maybe, haha. Nah, I hope North won't bear grudges for so long. *looks at him innocently while he adds her to Naughty List***

**Guest : Thank you! To be honest I thought about this issue since I had watched the movie for the first time and wondered why noone had written something about it ( at least I haven't found anything so far but there are too many RotG-fanfictions around to read them all ). The Guardians and Manny really should be happy that Jack has a heart of gold, everyone else would have walked away like "Not my problem, FU." :P ****I'm gonna try to think of something from the Guardians' POV, just can't promise when I'll manage to write it.**

* * *

Bare feet stepped quietly over the lush green grass of the Warren.

As usual the scenery looked like something you'd excpect on a kitschy postcard. Colourful flowers and blossoming trees as far as the eye could reach. The perfect image of spring.

It was a beautiful sight. Peaceful.

Jack was aware that he was going to destroy this peace the moment he had set a foot into it.

There was no going back, he would do what had to be done.

For the plan to work, he had to use all his abilities at once. Sneaking, hiding, surprise attack, speed and ice powers. He was determined to be successful.

There was no sign of the Guardian of Hope anywhere.

Of course Jack was well aware of that fact.

Once more it was of great advantage to have Baby Tooth as his partner in crime. She wasn't accompanying him right now, but she had informed him about Bunny traveling to Thailand to look for inspiration for new egg designs.

While Jack was in the Warren to accomplish his revenge the little hummingbird fairy was keeping a lookout and would warn him so he had time to escape before the rabbit came back.

The winter spirit assumed he had at least a few hours till Bunny's return but didn't rely on it. Just to be on the safe side he would get over with this as fast as he could.

Much to his relieve the sentinel eggs, his ultimate prey, were used to his presence since he visited now and then to paint eggs with their master.

For a moment Jack felt guilty for abusing this trust, but then he remembered why he was here.

The shoe-incident.

Maybe he would have gotten over it, but the Australian cottontail _had_ to show the photos to Tooth and Sandy and as if this wasn't enough embarassment already he also gave them copies. For what exactly Jack didn't know and honestly didn't _want_ to know. He was sure that if Bunny didn't hate Pitch's guts he would have given a copy to the boogeyman as well.

The kangaroo totally had it coming.

Even though the huge stone eggs wouldn't attack him the white-haired teenager was careful not to attract their attention too much. At least not yet. Without a doubt they weren't smart enough to suss his intentions but they could still run away or fight back. He had to wait for the right moment.

Hiding behind some flowery bushes he glanced at his soon-to-be victims and then at the bag around his shoulders. Several cans of Bunny's paint, the _waterproof _ones, and a few big brushes. An evil grin graced his face as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

Time to strike back.

With a loud battle cry he lunged towards the group if sentinel eggs and immediately froze their legs to the ground before they could even react. They changed their expressions from neutral to angry faces, obviously not being happy about the assault.

Jack counted how many he had caught. Four. Not bad for the start.

The Guardian of Fun, ready to proove how well that title suited him, put his staff aside and reached for paints and brushes.

Now he could get creative in a very mischievous sort of way.

He didn't have much time for perfection, but they weren't meant to become masterpieces ready to be put in a museum anyway. What he wanted was to take revenge on the pooka who had trampled all over his pride. And by the looks of it, he would achieve that goal.

When he was done he refreezed the melting ice at the stone giants' legs to make sure they wouldn't chase him through the Warren and hinder him from finding more of their fellows to enhance their appearance.

He had just finished painting the 11th one when a familiar buzzing sound caught his attention.

"Baby Tooth! Is Bunny coming back?"

A flustered nod was all he needed to abscond before the pooka would be able to kick his butt out of the Warren himself. On the way to the exit tunnel he quickly put the paint and brushes back in Bunny's storage cave and rushed to the surface with Baby Tooth at his side.

Oh, how badly he had wanted to see the kangaroo's reaction to his _'artworks'_ but he valued his life far too much for that. Being there when he saw what the winter spirit had done would lead to estimated 4 weeks in Santoff Clausen's infirmary.

Nope, definitely not worth it.

Still, the look on Bunny's face would be priceless.

* * *

The Spirit of Easter was in good mood. He had studied ornaments on Thai temples all day and had made dozends of sketches for potential exotic eggs. It was hard coming up with unique designs every year after several centuries so he often roamed different countries and cultures for inspiration. And today he had been quite successful and was satisfied with the results. He couldn't wait to actually paint the designs on the eggs.

With one last powerful jump he entered his Warren and immediately sensed that something was wrong. Very wrong. As North would have put it, he had a bad feeling in his belly.

He stuck his nose into the air and next to the usual scent of flowers, grass and spring he noticed something else. Ice and fresh paint.

Oh crickey.

Fearing the worst he hurried to follow the smell and soon found the source of it as a group of almost a dozend sentinel eggs stomped towards him.

The Guardian of Hope stopped in his tracks and just stood there staring in shock.

With the exception of their legs, which showed remainders of melted ice, the huge stone sculptures were covered in paint of all colours and shapes. What they all had in common were happy faces instead of their usual neutral or angry ones.

One egg was painted yellow with a black smiley face at the front.

The next was white with iridescent spots and clown make-up.

Another one showed a disturbingly exaggerrated happy anime face while others seemed to mock him with stuck out tongues, cheeky grins and…was that the famous troll face?

Plainly looking at them almost gave him a headache.

As if this wasn't bad enough a sudden worry hit him. With a nervous gulp he hesitantly stepped closer and with a single touch of his paw his fears were confirmed.

The little bastard had used his waterproof paint. It would take forever to wash it off again.

He let out a heavy sigh and that moment his frustration turned into pure, utter anger.

"_I'll kill him, that bloody show pony!"_

* * *

**A/N : *sigh* No christmas presents and now no Easter eggs or chocolate for me either. Oh well, it was worth it. ;D**


	11. A New Beginning? 1

**A/N : Thanks for the new reviews / favourites / follows! ^_^**

* * *

_*Set right after the movie*_

This had been the best day Jack Frost had ever experienced.

He had gained his first believers, had helped saving the Guardians and the children of the world by defeating Pitch and had officially become a guardian himself.

Some hours ago he had been outcast, lonely and hurt. Never would he have thought it to be possible that things could change for the better so quickly.

The excited glomp from Tooth, the hearty kiss-on-the-cheeks from North and the hug from Jamie. In mere minutes he had gotten more physical affection than in his past 300 years of living.

And he seriously could get used to it.

As soon as the sleigh landed back in Santoff Clausen North belowed the yetis and elves to prepare food and drinks. It was time for the biggest party the North Pole had ever seen.

They had a victory to celebrate.

Everyone was exhausted from the battle but the adrenaline of the last days' events kept them going. No way would they fall asleep before having a chance to bath in their own triumph over their arch enemy.

Not much time later they were all sitting at a big elongate table and gazing at the delicacies in front of them. Plum and chocolate pudding, several kinds of fruit pies, cookies in many different flavours, grilled chicken, meat loaf, sweet potatoes and a lot more.

Jack swallowed the drool building up in his mouth. Never had he seen such incredible amounts of food in one place.

For the first time in decades he realized how much he had longed for a nice tasty meal.

Being an immortal had its advantages. You didn't need to eat in order to survive, but it surely was a good feeling to actually do it once in a while. For spirits food in general was like candy for humans. Not essential but it felt damn good to have it.

The smell of freshly prepared meat and baked goods filled his nose and he closed his eyes to fully enjoy this sensation.

Suddenly North's loud voice diverted his attention back to the people around him.

"A toast to the children of the world for believing in us again! And big toast to Jack, without him we would not have defeated boogeyman!"

Said winter spirit noticed himself blushing and rubbed his neck awkwardly.

Hearty laughter filled the air as the Guardian of Wonder raised his glass with eggnog once more.

"You are now one of us and we couldn't have asked for better new guardian."

Tooth, Sandy and even Bunny nodded their heads in agreement, everyone smiling contently at their youngest comrade.

This didn't help much from getting rid of the purple shade on his cheeks. But there was no way he would complain about it.

"Thanks, guys." the white-haired boy replied with a huge grin on his face.

He couldn't think of anything else to say but it had to do for now.

"So, what are you waiting for, my dear friends? Enjoy meal!" the Russian cheered.

Noone had to be told twice. They lunged towards the food like they had been starving and the moment they tasted the first bites delighted moans echoed through the room.

For sure the yetis knew how to cook like professionals.

Hours passed, hours of laughter, happy talks and old stories being told. Jack enjoyed every moment with his new friends and listened to every one of their words. He wanted to know more about their past, what he had all missed in those many, many years.

Countless refills of eggnog and fruit punch later the party slowly headed towards an end.

It got more quiet and everyone just seemed to be satisfied with sitting at the table and enjoying the athmosphere before they had to leave.

Bunny was the first to eventually break the silence.

"Well, sorry mates, but I gotta go. There's a bunch of smashed eggs in my tunnels and that mess ain't cleaning up itself."

Jack winced inwardly, immediately being reminded how that mess was his fault.

"Yes, I should go back to my palace as well." Tooth agreed. "My fairies need help with bringing all those tooth boxes back to their destined storing places."

The sandman nodded and made a sand image of a sleeping child with swirls forming into a unicorn and then soccer playing above their head.

"I know, Sandy, children need good dreams more than ever now." North translated in case anyone hadn't understood.

"Much work to be done, yetis said Pitch destroyed some of the toys, not many but still enough to push us behind schedule."

For a moment the good mood left the big Russian's face and was replaced with mild hatred directed at the boogeyman himself.

That bastard better hid in his lair for the next centuries if he valued his immortal life.

The Guardians of Hope and Dreams bid their farewells before they vanished in a hole in the floor or floated out of the window. Toothiana flew towards Jack with a gentle smile and gave him another hug before she left as well.

Soon the frost boy was sitting there alone with Father Christmas as yetis came to collect the used dishes and leftovers from the table and started to clean up.

He didn't need more hints to convince him that it was time to say goodbye.

"Uh, thanks for everything North but I should go. Blizzards and snowfalls don't create themselves."

The reason sounded stupid to his own ears. Everyone had to deal with the consequences of the Nightmare King's attacks and what was he going to do? Spread coldness and storms. Yeah, that surely was just as important.

Once more he rubbed his neck in an awkward way.

A part of him didn't want to leave, to be alone again. He glanced up at North who smiled at him warmly.

"Is true, Jack. Just be sure to not end up on Naughty List again."

The spirit of winter replied to the smirk on old Santa's face with his famous crooked grin.

"I'll try but I can't promise anything."

North laughed and gave him a soft pat on the back before he walked away to start looking for the actual damage caused by the boogeyman.

Before he could prepare himself for it Jack was left standing alone in the big empty globe room. The yetis also had vanished and the elves were hurrying after them to get a hold of the remainders of the food.

Stupid as it might have sounded, but all of a sudden he feared that his life would turn back to how it had been only days ago.

What had he expected anyway? That the guardians and him would hang out together and have fun 24/7? Of course each of them had their own personal duties and wouldn't keep him company whenever he pleased.

Letting out a worried sigh the winter teen headed for the open window and halted for a moment to enjoy the cold breeze embracing him.

"Wind, take me home!" he called, but it was less enthusiastic than usual.

* * *

Night had fallen over Burgess by the time Jack arrived. The wind, his oldest and until a few days prior only friend, gently dropped him on his favourite tree. How many nights had he spent up there alone…he had stopped counting long ago. And he had gotten used to it, even enjoyed the silence sometimes. Though more often than not it seemed to mock him with the lack of sound, the lack of any other living being around, the sheer void encircling him.

Still, he had learned to deal with that.

So why was it suddenly bothering him with such new force now? What was going on with him?

Jack rubbed his temples and leaned back against the rough bark of the tree which had already been there the night he had risen from that frozen lake.

His eyes automatically wandered up towards the sky, gazing at the millions of sparkling stars before they landed on the moon whose light brightened up the darkness around it.

"So, what now?" he hesitantly asked after a while, so quiet that he doubted the Man in the Moon could actually hear him.

Not that it mattered, the entitiy wouldn't reply anyway. He had tried countless times to get an answer out of him, to no avail. And yet he continued.

"I'm a guardian now, but will that change anything?"

It was a fact that North, Bunny, Tooth and Sandy hadn't gathered for meetings regularly, unless a threat was looming over the world. From what Jack had heard they hadn't even seen each other for many decades at least.

Certainly this was what would happen again.

They'd go their own separate ways until the next battle was calling to be fought. Were they his friends? Maybe, he wasn't sure yet. How could he be, he never did have any friends, so he was quite new to this. Well, except the wind, but he was no breathing living person, so that was something completely different. He liked the guardians, a lot if he admitted, but he also was scared. Scared of them abandoning him now that Pitch was defeated. Scared of them only minding their own business again. Scared of them ignoring him like they did for so many centuries.

Being left behind by people he cared for would hurt so much more than he was willing to imagine.

A sarcastic chuckle left his mouth.

"There I go, got everything I ever wanted, my memories, believers, _'friends'_…and still I sit here brooding all night."

He wasn't talking to Manny or anyone in particular. Loneliness and despair had caused him to talk to himself a lot, especially when the silence became too much to bear. The only person who would ever truly listen to him was indeed _himself_. As sad as it was, it was the truth.

"I just….I'm done with being lonely. 300 years were more than enough. But I also don't wanna strain their nerves too much. What if they get annoyed of me and don't want me around anymore? I don't wanna get all clingy but I-I…"

A single cold tear ran down his cheek.

"I really don't wanna be alone anymore…"


	12. A New Beginning? 2

**A/N: Woa, thanks for all the reviews, I'm happy you liked the previous chapter! :D**

* * *

Several days later Jack had made up his mind. No matter how badly he longed for contact he would keep a distance to the guardians. Too big was his fear of aggravating them. Seeing them every couple of years would be better than having them fed up with him because he bugged them with his presence. Rare contact was better than none at all. He would just go on with his life and look forward to those meetings. Enjoy spending time with Jamie and his friends. Maybe he could even get some more believers.

Deciding that he had wallowed in worries and doubts for far too long the white-haired boy headed for the Bennett's house to surprise his first believer. Theoretically it was spring already but he took the occasion to bless Burgess with one last snow day.

* * *

Spending time with Jamie and Co. had been fun. The kids had a blast when he created hundreds of snowballs for the biggest snowball fight the town had ever seen.

He helped them building snowmen, taller than himself, freezed the windows of cars and drew all kinds of animals on them which he let come to life with his magic.

Soon more children started believing in him, not many but he was happy about every single one who could finally see him and didn't walk through him anymore.

But he couldn't play with them all day, as much as he liked that. After all, he was the spirit of winter and had to control snow, blizzards and coldness around the world. He couldn't just drop his responsibilities to have fun. Even if it sounded tempting.

And most important of all, his season had come to an end now. Spring was spreading over Burgess and if he didn't back off then Mother Nature wouldn't be happy about it. You didn't want to get in trouble with Mother Nature.

* * *

Weeks had passed since the victory party at the North Pole.

Jack hadn't seen any of the guardians since then, except Sandy's dreamsand or Tooth's little fairies at night.

Slowly but surely the temperatures were rising and while he could still deal with it he prefered to roam colder areas of the world. When the nights were cool enough for his liking he would come back and sit on his favourite tree, gazing at the stars until he fell asleep.

He dreamed of dolphins, snowball fights and ice-skating with his little sister, smiling in his sleep as golden swirls of sand engulfed him. Up in the sky the sandman smiled down at the teenager, always making sure he had pleasant dreams.

* * *

By now it was almost two months after the Nightmare King's defeat. Jack wondered when he would see the other guardians again or if they missed him.

"Pffff," he snorted in reply to his own question, "for sure they can't live a second more without me."

A half-hearted chuckle was soon followed by a grim expression on the frost boy's face.

"Do they even _want_ to see me again or are they glad they don't have to deal with me anymore…?"

Ugh, how he hated to fall back into those moods, but it seemd he couldn't fight the invisible force pulling him into the abyss of fear and doubts.

He groaned and cursed his own mind as the wind blew harsher around him, trying to get his attention.

"Huh? What-"

Sapphire blue eyes widened as he noticed the aurora borealis shining in green and purple waves of light in the sky.

"Something happened." he stated matter-of-factly.

During their celebration party he had been told that the northern lights were a sign for the Guardians to gather at Santoff Clausen. Without further hesitation Jack called his oldest friend.

"Wind, to the North Pole, as fast as possible!"

* * *

"What's going on? Did Pitch come back? Are the children still believing? Is-"

"Woa, woa, mate, calm down!"

Bunny raised his arms to emphasize his words as the winter teen blurted out one question after another as soon as he had entered the globe room.

The boy looked around and noticed all of his comrades sitting on red velvet sofas and chairs, holding mugs of eggnog in their hands. A tug on his trouser leg alerted him of an elf who was offering him a drink as well.

Surely they wouldn't sit here calm and relaxed if an evil force threatened the world. But if so, they were more hard-nosed than he had thought.

"Uhm, does anyone care to tell me what this is all about?" he asked eventually.

"We have something to discuss, Jack, it's about you."

North's booming voice made the youngest guardian pull his staff to his chest and grab it just a little tighter.

Had he already done something wrong? He couldn't remember what that could have been but the worry kept gnawing at his mind.

"Me?"

"Which part of _'It's about you'_ didn't ya understand, Frostbite?" Bunny retorted in a light-hearted way.

Jack however didn't catch that and instantly sensed anger where none was, making him wince visibly. Hopefully noone had noticed it.

Glancing at the worried faces staring at him prooved him otherwise. Damn.

"Jack, are you alright?" Tooth spoke up for the first time since he had arrived.

The worry in her voice was evident to everyone.

"Uh, sure, everything fine." he said with a fake smile but couldn't keep himself from nervously shifting from one foot to the other.

Before more confused looks could have been exchanged Sandy left the comfort of the sofa and flew towards the white-haired teen. Floating behind him and putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder he smiled warmly at him. Jack subconsciously leaned into the touch and returned the smile weakly.

Sand images formed over the little golden man's head, a snowflake, an arrow and then he pointed at the couch in front of them. Jack understood the message and slowly made his way towards it and sat down on the soft velvet cushions with Sandy doing the same. North was sitting on a big armchair while Bunny and Tooth were occupying one of two sofas. There was still space next to them but Jack rather chose the empty second one.

For a moment none of them knew what to do or say and hoped one of the others would break the awkward silence hanging in the room.

Even the Easter Bunny who easily got impatient with people's antics, especially Jack's, couldn't suppress the nagging feeling that something serious was bothering their newest teammember. He had never seen him so…introvertive as he sat there fiddling around with his staff, posture as stiff as the piece of wood itself, not looking any of them in the eye.

All of a sudden North stood up, obviously thinking that acting cheery and stomping towards the winter spirit would solve the tensed athmosphere.

"Now Jack, we have something important to-"

He immediately halted in his tracks, mere meters away from the boy, as he saw him flinching at his abrupt approach.

"Crickey, mate, ye're actin' like a deer in the headlights! What's the matter?"

Tooth, despite being honestly worried as well, couldn't hide a small grin at the apparent worry in Bunny's voice.

As she saw the insecure look on Jack's face she couldn't keep herself sitting on the couch anymore either and fluttered towards the empty space next to him. The teen had developed a weird fascination with the floor and didn't divert his gaze from it. A delicate arm was wrapped around his shoulders and once more he leaned into the touch.

Having everyone stare at him didn't help to make him feel more comfortable though.

"Sorry, guys, I just…I'm sorry for whatever I did, didn't wanna upset anyone."

Confused expressions were exchanged among the Guardians and North, as usual, was the first to speak up.

"What do you mean, Jack?"

The spirit of winter intensified the grip on his staff and kept his focus on the pattern of the carpet at his feet.

"You haven't talked to me since we defeated Pitch two months ago so I guess the reason why you suddenly called me here is because I must have…done something?"

Another moment of silence followed before North closed the last meters of distance between them, this time calmer and slower than he did only minutes ago.

The big man knelt down to be on eye-level with Jack and gently lifted the boy's chin with one of his beefy fingers.

"Jack…there is nothing to worry about. There is nothing you did wrong. We are sorry we didn't contact you sooner, but fixing damages boogeyman caused took a lot of time. Is not that we didn't want you around, is just duties that kept us busy."

Finally sapphire blue eyes looked up and there was a glint of hope in them.

North took that weak sign of improvement as opportunity to get back on the original topic.

"Now reason why we need to talk is, do you have home?"

"W-what?"

"A home mate, where do you live?" Bunny explained with more patience than anyone would have expected from him.

"Oh…well, mainly at the lake in Burgess…I usually sleep in the trees there…but during spring and summer I rather stay in Antarctica, found a few nice ice caves there, so…."

He sheepishly rubbed his neck as he realized how pathetic that must have sounded. Tooth lived in a glorious palace, Bunny in his paradise-like Warren, Sandy in a golden castle made of dreamsand and North in his huge workshop. And what did he have to show? Trees and caves. That was impressive for sure.

"Well, would you like to stay here then?"

The question nearly knocked him off the couch.

"Excuse me?" he asked dumbfoundedly.

North's only reaction was a warm smile directed at him.

"I-I…."

A hundred thoughts ran through his mind all at once. This was his chance to escape the loneliness which had kept him hostage for the last 300 years. He wouldn't have to be on his own anymore. But what if he messed up again? What would happen if North got fed up with him and threw him out? Wasn't that bound to happen sooner or later? And yet, he couldn't and didn't want to run away from the first people who ever became his friends. He had to give it a try, a careful one.

"I don't know about staying here permanently, it might get too much for the yetis."

For the first time that day there was a hint of his usual humor in both his tone and his expression.

"But I'd like to visit more often, if that's alright."

Jack looked up hopefully and North let out a hearty laugh, followed by a pat on the winter teen's knee.

"Then we have deal! Now come on, there's surprise for you!"

Curiosity immediately switched off any worry and doubt that was left inside of him.

"What is it?"

"If I told you, it wouldn't be surprise!"

"Awww, come on!"

Bunny, Tooth and Sandy smiled knowingly while the big Russian winked at him.

"Just follow me and you'll see."

"Is this really necessary?" Jack whined and motioned to the blindfold made of dreamsand which covered his eyes.

Tooth held one of his hands in hers and safely guided him to their destination.

"For the 7th time, yes it is, so stop complainin', Frostbite."

Bunny's patience had officially quit and gone on holiday by now.

"We're here!" a familiar Russian voice bellowed.

"Finally…." the pooka muttered. "One more complaint and I'd thrown him outta the window."

"You wouldn't have managed that even with me being blind, kangaroo."

"Oh really, there's only one way to-"

"Enough!"

Everyone was silenced by the Guardian of Wonder and Jack sighed in relief when Sandy was allowed to remove the blindfold. It quickly dissolved and after blinking a few times to get readjusted to the light the first thing he noticed was a white wooden door right in front of him.

A door with a snowflake engraved into it.

He looked at North questioningly and once more, the big man smiled at him.

"Go on, open it."

Jack did as he was told and slowly opened the door, but nothing could have prepared him for what he was about to see.

For a moment he just stood there, mouth and eyes wide open before he further stepped into the room.

"Is that…mine?" Jack asked to make sure he really got it right.

He couldn't believe it, it was too good to be true.

"Yes, all yours now, my boy." North said gentler than usual.

Jack continued wandering around the room, _his_ room, while the others watched him with equally delighted smiles on their faces.

There were three big windows right in front of him, almost covering a whole wall, with light blue cushions covering their seats. In the center of the room was a big comfy looking bed with blue sheets. Its frame was made of white wood, just like a wardrobe on the left and a desk and chair on the right side. Next to it stood a tall shelf of the same colour with a few books, snowglobes and toys. The murals on the walls resembled a winter forest. A bright blue sky behind a snow-covered ground and birches with snowflakes in different sizes all around them.

It was so well-painted that he wondered if it had been Bunny's work.

They really wanted him around. No wonder it had taken them so long to contact him, this room must have taken a lot of effort to decorate, every single detail was chosen to match his element. He felt guilty for having doubts concerning their loyality now.

"Wow…." was all he managed to say.

"You like it?"

"I LOVE it!" he suddenly blurted out and looked so happy that it made the old Russian's heart soar.

Never would he have expected to be hugged by the smaller spirit the next moment, though. He smiled and returned the hug, careful not to crush the boy with his strenght.

"Thanks…really…thank you." Jack muttered into the thick fabric of North's sweater.

For the sake of his pride he hoped that noone saw the tears of joy running down his cheeks as he clung to the big man. In moments like these it became painfully clear how badly he had longed for any kind of physical contact.

North rubbed his back soothingly and kept smiling.

"You're very welcome, Jack. We are family now, and family is forever."

* * *

**A/N: Last quote is shamelessly stolen from "Dolphin Tale" because I love that movie and it just fits so well. **

**Originally I didn't wanna jump on the bandwagon sbout Jack getting a room at Santoff Clausen but it just seemed like a good way to end this story. And proove him that he's indeed welcome at North's place. ^^**


	13. Grey Autumn

**A/N : You might get the impression that I don't really like autumn...that impression is right. Dunno how it is at your places but in North Germany it mainly consists of 3 months of grey, rainy, windy and cold weather. Last year we had this crappy weather from October-January until Jack finally decided to bless us with some snow in...February. And we had white Easter ( it's kinda odd to visit an Easter market when temperatures have dropped below zero ). **

**Though it was funny when I was visiting my friend in Austria and whining about finally wanting snow and next morning we woke up and BAAM! everything was white, snow was falling and just didn't stop anymore. Vienna looked like freaking Siberia all of a sudden. My friend kept blaming me for it,"So dear Dolphy wanted snow, now you got snow. :|" *lol*  
**

**JessicaNorth : Thank you! ^^**

**_Guest : *puts the onions aside* Glad you liked it! I have several more chapters ready to be uploaded, hehe. Next update will be on tuesday since I'll be in Vienna over the weekend._**

* * *

_*Set before the movie*_

Temperatures were slowly dropping as summer was heading towards its end.

Regarding that it was already in the middle of September it was still mildly warm during the day, though nowhere near the burning degrees of the past months. In the evening on the other hand the air got that ominous chill.

There was no denying that autumn would soon take the previous season's place, a few more leaves than usual falling from the trees and barely increasing wind hinting at its not-so-secret approach.

More often now did the sun hide behind thick clouds, dipping the sky into various shades of grey instead of the brilliant clear blue which graced hot summer days with natural cheeriness.

Compared to the other seasons autumn really was depressing. At least in Jack's humble opinion.

For reasons that didn't need to be explained winter was his favourite.

And yet he could totally understand why people liked the two following seasons so much.

Spring was like a rebirth of nature. Life spread out from every corner, flowers in all possible variations of colours started to bloom wherever you looked, animals woke up from hibernation, bees and butterflies fluttered through the air, trees turned green again and humans seemed to be in happier spirits alltogether.

Summer had them all spending more time outside than they did during the rest of the year. Everyone enjoyed lying in the sun and bathing in its warmth, parks and meadows were crowded with people having barbecues, picknicks or just chilling after a stressy day of work.

Birds' serenades sounded like background music to the masterpiece called nature, their happy tweeting audibly filling the air with life and happiness.

Though as much as they loved the hot weather, not just children but teenagers and adults as well, relished the refreshment of a tasty bowl of ice-cream. It seemed like even a single scoop of the cold dessert was the cherry on top of a perfect day.

Jack took delight in the fact that humans longed for something related to his own element in the hottest months of the year.

So what about autumn? Yes, occassionally it also could create pleasant days.

'_Indian Summer'_ as it used to be called was a marvelous sight. Leaves in different shades from brown, red, orange and yellow to purple and pink stood in unique contrast to all the other seasons. Especially during sunsets with clear skies ahead the view was breathtaking, the colours of the retreating sun mirroring those of the millions of leaves down on earth.

This and the fact that it would only take a few months until it was winter's turn were the only positive things he could think of.

A mere week later Jack once again was reminded of why exactly he disliked this season.

He had returned to Burgess permanently since the decreasing temperatures were far more to his liking now than the hot weather from June to August.

Thick grey clouds loomed above him, swallowing every last bit of blue sky which might have still been somewhere inbetween. Around him a few withered leaves floated down the tree on whose branch he was sitting on. He listlessly watched them land on the wet grass below, a clear indication that it had rained not long ago.

Evening was approaching and the sky just seemed to get more depressing as it turned from light to dark grey hues.

The frost boy sighed and mustered the scenery surrounding him. It all appeared so…monotone. But not a _good_ monotone like everything being covered in snow which glistened in the sunlight and turned the world into a white winter wonderland.

No, this here was just sad.

The trees, the bushes, the grass, the sky, the rocks and even his beloved lake were tinted in grey, giving nature a depressingly surreal appearance. It looked like a scene right out of a Tim Burton movie.

Jack shook his head. Why was he even being bothered by this after so many years? Maybe it was just one of these days when everything could bring him down. Just a sour mood which would be over as soon as the next day dawned.

But more importantly, why did he always come back to Burgess the very moment summer started to vanish from the small town? He might just as well have stayed in any other area of the world until it was time to spread winter over North America.

Since he had risen from the frozen lake he had felt a connection with this place. Not solely because he was _born_ there but something he couldn't pinpoint as it was hidden deep inside his subconsciousness. Whenever he left Burgess he sooner or later felt the nagging urge to come back, he felt attached to it and took comfort in the familiarity of his lake and the trees surrounding it above everything else.

This was what he considered his _home_ and he would always return.

The white-haired teen hugged the withered shepherd's crook, his sole possession, closer to his chest and relaxed his back against the rough surface of the tree. For others it might have been a more than uncomfortable position, but Jack was used to it. He had tried sleeping on the ground as well but felt a lot more secure high up in the branches of his favourite tree.

By the time he had drifted off into dreamland the sun had fully dissappeared and left the forest in eerie darkness. No stars shone in the foggy dark grey night as they were hidden behind thick layers of autumn clouds. Even the moon was nothing but a weak indication of a brighter patch of grey compared to the rest of the dull sky.

A few hours later he shifted around in a half-awake state when he felt something small and wet landing on his cheek.

He had always been a light sleeper, always ready to defend himself against what- or whoever might attack him. Call it paranoia but for him it was survival instinct.

With a casual move of his hand and still closed eyes he brushed the tiny drop of water away from his face before it had the chance to freeze.

Soon more drops followed and while he had started to ignore this annoyance at first he came completely back to his senses as heavy rain fell from the gloomy heaven above.

Jack groaned in frustration and sunk lower against the glistening bark, shooting a pouty glare at the invisible moon.

"Seriously now?" he muttered, not expecting a reply whatsoever.

In mere moments the sudden rainfall had completely soaked his clothes and plastered his hair flat to his face. It wouldn't take long for his cold skin to freeze the water and turn it into a thin layer of ice, which would act like a protective shield and shelter him from the persistent rain for the rest of the night. The disadvantage was that the ice constrained his freedom of movement and it wouldn't be the first time he woke up with a stiff neck.

At least he wouldn't have to worry about getting a cold. That would be quite ironic if he thought further about it.

For a while he pondered the option to just fly somewhere else where it wasn't raining cats and dogs right now or look for a nearby cave to hide in. Eventually his stubborness convinced him that there was no way in hell that Jack Frost would allow the pesky rain to chase him away.

This was _his_ place, _his_ lake,_ his_ forest, _his_ tree, he had been here first and he would stay, no matter how much water was thrown down at him.

He would just sit it out, maybe manage to go back to sleep and ignore the rain. Yeah, that would show it. Curse the autumn spirit who decided his day of return would be a great opportunity for downpour.

For the fraction of a moment he wondered if people were annoyed by snowfall as much as he was of rainfall. Nah, that was something totally different. Snow didn't soak anyone to the bone. Snowflakes were beautiful and fluffy while raindrops were just…wet.

With a grumpy sigh he pulled up his hood and hugged his knees towards his chest. The rain wouldn't prevail over him. He would stay, because this was were he belonged.

As much as he disliked autumn, especially in these very situations, he would never abstain from coming back to Burgess as soon as he could.

This was his _home_ and he would always return.


	14. Deadly Winter

**A/N : Alright, this chapter is gonna be very depressing and angsty, I wasn't in such a good mood and it went slightly out of hand. Ahem.  
**

** Em : Oh yes, I can imagine that 6 months of winter is a liiittle too much. XD**

* * *

In a perfect world all living beings treated each other the way they wanted to be treated in return. Hard work was rewarded, ambition was praised, honesty was appreciated and kindness was the greatest good. Being disrespectful to others' efforts was frowned upon, more so was looking down on people who struggled but weren't as successful or lucky as oneself. Bragging was tolerated but not very popular and flat-out mocking to the point of hurt was punished.

In a perfect world.

But reality was far from perfect.

Jack had to learn the hard way.

Getting proper control over his powers and realizing that he as winter spirit was indeed supposed to direct the weather of the coldest season all over the globe took him a while to figure out. The Man in the Moon could at least have given him an instruction manual.

However, through ups and downs and many years later he was doing a pretty decent job at it.

During the first years there were a few too many harsh blizzards haunting the land and forcing the poor citizens to hide in their cozy homes for far too long, but hey, noone could expect him to immediately be perfect at this.

He never intended to hurt anyone but coldness, snow and the sad truth that not everyone had a warm shelter inevitably led to icy deaths.

On the day he had encountered winter's first victim, a young woman who had been in the forest and hadn't managed to escape the sudden snow storm, he was paralyzed in utter terrror.

Countless tears were shed, he hated himself for what he had done and after a sleepless night he had made up his mind. Never would he risk to threaten someone with his powers again, so he decided to keep them inside himself. The world surely would survive without his season and noone would be harmed. Noone would freeze to death because of him anymore.

It went according to plan for two days. Then he started to notice the side effects of locking up powers which were meant to spread winter worldwide. First he had just been dizzy, followed by a pounding headache and aggravated mood. He felt like he would explode any time, both physically and mentally.

After 4 days he was a mental wreck, seriously lacking sleep because the fear of losing control over the force within kept him awake. That's when the pain showed its cruel face. Never had he assumed he would be able to feel hot, and yet the burning and less than unpleasant sensation inside him prooved him otherwise. It was like he had been on fire.

For one more day he suffered in silence, ready to sacrifice himself for the well-being of those who didn't even know he existed. The pain had gotten almost unbearable but he was too stubborn to give in.

A few hours before sunset his martyry reached a whole new level. Invisible hands clawed at his insides, ready to rip him into pieces for the sake of getting out of their prison. He couldn't hold it back much longer. With his last ounce of strenght he called the wind for help and desperately begged it to bring him to Antarctica as fast as possible. Fortunately his current location hadn't been that far away from it.

During the flight he was on the verge of passing out a few times but kept fighting against the alluring prospect of simply shutting his eyes and allowing the pain to be drowned by the black void of unconsciousness. No, he couldn't let it happen, too big was the danger of his powers breaking loose. It would cause a catastrophe, one much worse than a common snow storm.

He needed to reach the South Pole before it was too late, there in the vast no-man's-land he could unleash his powers without anyone around to be affected by it.

The wind gently dropped him on top of an icy glacier not a moment too early. The second his bare feet touched the snowy ground he fell to his knees and with a heart-piercing scream he let it all out. Electric blue light flashed around him and soon swallowed him whole as his body spasmed and wave after wave of pure winter power shot out of him.

If it were several blizzards or a single gigantic one which raged over the continent, noone knew.

And noone would have been able to survive this force, had there been any living beings around.

Jack couldn't tell if it had been minutes, hours or days but by the time every last bit of energy had left him he felt more exhausted than ever before. This time he didn't fight the darkness as shadows blurred his vision and he collapsed into the comfortably soft snowdrift below him.

When he had woken up the next day his physical condition had turned back to normal but his psyche had suffered from the naïve plan.

Suppressing his powers obviously hadn't been blessed with success and he wasn't going to do it again. The risk of losing control at the wrong time and place was just too big.

If he wanted to admit it or not, he couldn't defeat destiny.

The Man in the Moon had created him to be the Spirit of Winter, and there was nothing he could do to fight it.

For the coming decades he tried convincing himself that he just did what he was born to do, winter _had_ to be cold, there _had_ to be snow and the occasional blizzard, it was just how things went.

And yet, whenever he caught a glimpse of a frozen still body partly hidden by a layer of his own snowflakes the horrible knowledge that he was responsible for this hit him like a blow to the guts.

Noone could see him, noone ever interacted with him, all he had was the wind and his shepherd's crook and his job hurt and even _killed _people. He was sure his situation had hit rock bottom.

Which soon would turn out to be a mistake.

* * *

On a chilly October evening he had decided that it would be a good idea to surprise London with _very _early snowfall. It was almost November anyway and he had overheard a few children talking about their wishes for a lot of snow during the upcoming winter.

After the setbacks over the last decades he had tried to see his 'job' from another perspective. Children loved snow, snowball fights, building snowmen, sliding down snow hills on their sleighs, everything that was connected to his element.

So whenever one of them said how badly they longed for snow and he was in reach to witness it, he gladly granted their wish. As long as it wasn't in the middle of spring or summer, of course.

Adults were dumbfounded and complained about the crazy weather, but they were rarely satisfied with whatever meteorological surprise nature threw at them.

The children were happy, nobody was harmed, that's what counted for Jack.

When his work was accomplished he headed in direction of a forest in the immediate hinterland of Great Britain's capital to rest for a while and maybe take a little nap. But before his feet had been able to touch the ground he was knocked out of the wind's grasp by a blistering surge of power, throwing him against one of the nearby trees and making him scream out in pain as his back came in harsh contact with the rough bark. With a loud thud he landed on the ground ungracefully and saw stars for a moment.

"What the-" he muttered to himself as he rubbed his sore neck and looked around in confusion.

Back on shaky legs the winter teen stumbled towards his staff which had landed a few metres away from him. Just has he reached out to grab it the same power from moments ago swept him off his feet and slammed him against the thick trunk once more.

Great, he could already feel a vicious headache coming up.

"What d'ye think ye're doin'?!" a pissed off voice with a slight Irish accent echoed through the forest, dangerously close to him.

"I just wanted to ask you the same." Jack retorted and used the tree as support while trying to get up again.

Standing in front of him was a young man who appeared to be in his mid-twenties, several inches taller than him and well-built with broad shoulders. He had long ginger hair which was tied back into a ponytail, freckles on his face and wore a chocolate coloured leather coat which was adorned with embroidery of leaves, a beige cotton short, brown pants and black boots.

"Don't get snarky on me, Frost!"

Then it suddenly struck him like the attack itself had. Sapphire blue eyes widened in shock

"Wait…you can see me? And you know my name?" he asked dumbfounded.

"'Course I do! All spirits can see each other!"

To Jack it felt like his whole conception of the world was shattering to pieces.

Since he had risen from the frozen lake noone had spoken a word to him or at least acknowledged his existence. He had heard humans talking about other spirits like the Easter Bunny or Santa Clause but he had never met any of them. So he had just assumed that he was alone and even if there were others like him, they probably wouldn't be able to see him either.

"They…can?"

Oh how he wished he wouldn't have sounded so vulnerable that moment, but that piece of new information had him paralyzed.

"Sure we can! Gheez, ye aren't the brightest bulb in the box, are ye? And yeah, everyone knows ye but troublemakin' winter spirits aren't very popular so we rather ignore ye. What reminds me, enough of the chit-chat and back to business."

Dark brown eyes glared down at him threateningly.

"Why the _hell_ are ye messing up my season?!"

"_Your _season?"

The red-haired man sighed, obviously only being seconds away from losing his patience, and explained swiftly.

"I'm Flann MacHarvest, the Spirit of Autumn. Gonna ask one last time, _why_ are _you_ messin' up my season?!"

If it hadn't been clear already, Jack was now fully convinced that he was in serious trouble.

"Uhm…I just wanted to bring joy to the kids, they-"

"Oh shut yer trap, suffocatin' people with yer blasted snow almost 2 months too early isn't what anyone would call '_bring joy'_!"

Jack flinched at the outburst and automatically wanted to pull his staff closer to himself but to his dismay he had to realize it was still lying out of reach. With Flann standing in the way.

This only increased his growing anxiety about the whole situation.

He had no knowledge of his opponent's power, didn't have his staff to defend himself and his mental condition as well as the throbbing headache weren't helpful either.

"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't have any bad intentions." the frost boy started to apologize nervously. "It seemed like a fun idea to-"

"Freeze people ta death? Yeah, that sounds like a blast for sure." the older man interrupted sarcastically, disgust written all over his face.

Jack felt his breath caught in his throat.

"I-I didn't-"

"Sure ye did! Maybe not today, and just because I stopped ye, but everyone damn well knows that ye're to be blamed for the deaths of countless people! Yer blizzards killed them, so tell me, how much fun was it to bury innocent people under yer stupid snow?!"

Tears were welling up in his eyes no matter how hard he tried to hold them back. The words were like daggers stabbing his heart. And the worst thing of all, it was the truth.

"Oh don't gimme yer crocodile tears now, ye knew the consequences of yer actions but ye didn't give a damn. And then ye wonder why noone wants ta have anything ta do with ye? Well, newsflash, because yer a bloody murderer!"

"NO!"

The Spirit of Autumn was startled for a moment when Jack suddenly stood tall and yelled at him with all the energy he could muster.

"I just do what I _have_ to do, you think I chose this?! No, the Man in the Moon did and there's nothing I can do against it. You think I _enjoy_ hurting people? I don't! But I-I can't keep it from happening! Winter _has_ to be cold, I can't change that!"

He was on the verge of hysteria, having no idea if he was trying to convince Flann or himself. For years he had done his best to suppress the guilt which threatened to eat him alive, he didn't need anyone else rubbing it in.

However, the brown-clad man in front of him didn't seem to be impressed by his outburst.

Crossing his arms he shot another glare at the younger spirit.

"Doesn't matter how many excuses ye might come up with, it doesn't change the bitter truth that ye have the blood of humans on yer hands." he said matter-of-factly.

Before Jack was able to react a strong fist, which felt like it was made of steel, slammed into his stomach and knocked the air out of him. With a choked scream he dropped down to his knees, holding his abused middle and desperately trying to catch his breath. Suddenly he was grabbed by the collar and pulled up, his feet dangling inches above the forest soil.

"Now listen ta me, Frost, 'cause I will only say this once. You stay out of my season or heaven help ye, ye will regret it!"

The iciness in the autumn spirit's voice surpassed everything Jack could possibly have conjured with his own winter powers.

Deciding that he had made his point clear enough Flann let go of the white-hared teen, who landed painfully on solid ground, and quickly dissappeared behind treetops as he took off to the sky, leaves trailing behind him.

With trembling limbs Jack crawled towards his staff and hugged it close to his chest as soon as his fingertips had touched the conduit of his power, immediately spreading a thin layer of frost over it. Now that he was alone again he let the tears fall freely down his face.

For so many years he had longed for someone to see him, to talk to him, to take notice of him.

After this incident he wished he would have stayed invisible.

There were others like him, other spirits.

They were aware of his existence.

And they ignored him on purpose.

Worse, they hated him.

He was the Spirit of Winter, doomed to do the job noone else wanted to do.

Because it killed people.

_He_ killed people.

Flann was right, he was a murderer, there was no way to sugar-coat it.

He did his best to bring joy to the world, but how could a hundred snowball fights even remotely compensate the death of a single innocent person?

Was it worth that?

No, it wasn't.

And yet, he would continue his duty, because as much as he hated himself for it, he couldn't fight destiny.

The Man in the Moon chose his destiny for him.

He was Jack Frost, whether the rest of the world liked it or not.

And it surely wasn't a perfect world.

* * *

**A/N : The Spirit of Autumn is a jerk. :P  
**

**"Flann" is an old Irish name and means "fiery red" and "harvest" was how the season was called before the 16th century. **

**Next chapter will be more light-hearted, I swear.  
**


	15. Siblings

**A/N : Like I promised, this chapter is more light-hearted than the last few ones. Enjoy it while you can, I'll soon start uploading an arc which basically only consists of angst. **

** Em : Maybe, I'll think about it. ^^**

** SaiyanPrincess : Thanks a lot, glad you liked it!**

* * *

10-year old Jamie Bennett was annoyed.

He was supposed to be out in the woods, having the best snowball fight ever with his favourite spirit of winter. But nooo, he was stuck inside the house and had to babysit his little sister. Of course he loved his sibling, but right now he wished she had been old enough to look after herself and didn't require constant observation.

"Hungryyyyy!" the blonde toddler whined as she huddled on the couch, completely ignoring the cartoon on TV which was meant to keep her busy at least for a while.

"Working on it, Soph." Jamie groaned from the open kitchen and continued getting the supplies for a sandwich out of the fridge.

It wasn't a nourishing meal but it would have to do for the time being. Originally he had planned to wait until his mother came home and cooked dinner but the small girl's querulousness was getting on his nerves so he eventually gave in.

Another whine alerted him of the obvious dissapproval directed at him.

"Just watch the show, I'll be done asap."

"But…hungry now!"

If he didn't have a knife and a loaf of bread in his hands he would have facepalmed. Luckily for him, his sister suddenly went quiet for a moment as if she had finally found something else to entertain her or realized she shouldn't annoy someone who was holding a knife. Before he could let out a sigh of relief a piercing shriek of joy filled the room, causing him to drip the items onto the kitchen counter and shield his hurting ears from the sound. From the corner of his eyes he saw her dashing towards the glassy balcony door and just as he wanted to ask her what this hysteria was about he noticed the figure standing outside and waving at him.

"Jack!" the boy shouted in equal excitement and hastily made his way towards the door, quickly opening it and allowing his best friend to come inside.

"Hey Ja-_Woa_!" the white-haired teen yelled in surprise as little Sophie had thrown herself at him, glomping his leg with a death grip.

"Nice to see you, too." he laughed and patted her head gently.

Though he tried to hide it behind his familiar mask of cheerfulness, his expression suddenly turned into an unusual frown.

"Why didn't you meet me in the woods, Jamie? I got kinda worried when you didn't show up." he said with a serious tone in his voice.

'_Kinda worried'_ was an understatement. Jack had waited over an hour for his first believer to show up. Jamie had never been too late. With every passing minute the worst possible scenarios followed right after the other in his mind. From Pitch kidnapping him or the boy being involved in a terrible accident to suddenly losing believe or interest in the winter spirit.

So after he had finally gotten fed up with just standing there like an idiot and waiting for someone who would apparently not appear anymore his first destination was the Bennett's house to check if the kid was alright.

Jamie started to feel guilty as he couldn't miss the hurt look on the older boy's face.

"I'm sorry, Jack, I _really_ wanted to hang out with you but then Mom called that she had to work overtime and told me I had to stay at home and keep an eye on Sophie."

He apologized and pointed at the little girl who was still clinging to the Guardian of Fun's leg.

"Oh."

Jack sighed in relief as the explanation took a load off his mind. This surely was a lot better than the other options like kidnapping, accidents or loss of belief his paranoid brain had come up with. He felt a little stupid for acting like a drama queen now.

With a smirk he looked down at the toddler.

"Sophie, not that I don't appreciate your display of affection but my leg is starting to fall asleep."

The blonde girl glanced up at the tall boy for a moment and then, with an amused giggle, tightened her grip on him.

"Mine! Mine! Mine!"

While Jack found this quite adorable and laughed about it, Jamie's patience was exhausted.

"Ghee, Soph, let go of him finally! He's the Spirit of Winter, not one of your toys!"

All he got as reaction was a tiny outstretched tongue in his direction. Jack however had an idea how to deal with stubborn kids like her.

"Hey, want me to create some snowflakes? Just for you?"

The girl's eyes widened and a huge happy grin appeared on her features.

"Just me?"

With a bright nod and a few skilled motions of his hands later the living room was soon graced with the presence of around two dozend fluffy snowflakes, all in different sizes and unique shapes.

In an instant Sophie had released her prey which had been Jack's leg and began to chase the snowflakes, shouting with glee.

"So, watcha doing?" Jack asked, that typical smirk adorning his face as he rested his staff on his shoulder.

"Preparing a snack for the little bugger of a sister." Jamie replied matter-of-factly.

The winter spirit chuckled and casually rested his hand in the front pocket of his blue hoodie.

"Oh come on, she isn't that bad."

"You're not living with her."

"Still, she's a nice kid."

"Yeah, but she can be annoying like hell."

"That's normal for younger siblings."

"How do you know, you don't even have one."

Jamie's question wasn't meant to hurt or attack, and while he had asked it in a more curious than anything tone, the slight flinching of his best friend was a clear indication that he had hit a sore spot. He immediately regretted his words as he saw the hurt in the winter teen's eyes.

"Jack, I'm sorry, I-"

"Nah, it's okay. You can't know…" the older boy interrupted and swallowed the lump in his throat.

"Before I became Jack Frost, I…did have a family…and a little sister. But that was long ago…"

Feeling his discomfort about the topic Jamie didn't further ask about it. For a 10-year old he really displayed an impressive amount of consideration. Jack was grateful for this, he didn't want to bother someone so young with the circumstances of his death in case should he have further asked about the events from his past life. Neither did he want to admit that he actually couldn't remember his family despite the few memories which were stored in his tooth box.

There was an awkward silence between the two, with Sophie running around them and still chasing the slowly dissolving snowflakes. Her happy laughter as she had caught one of them ripped the two boys out of their melancholic state.

With a triumphant grin she stood in front of Jack, arms outstretched and opening her hands to show him but the tiny piece of ice had already melted under the warmth of her skin.

A pouty lip and teary eyes took hold of her features and increased the moment she had looked around only to realize that the rest of the snowflakes had dissappeared as well.

"Awww, don't be sad, I got something for you."

Watery green eyes stared at him suspiciously, wondering if it would be again teeth with blood and gums on them like that strange bird-fairy had offered her some time ago.

Jack kneeled down to be closer on eye-level with the little girl and created one more snowflake in his hand, though this time it was bigger and more intricate than the previous ones. After approving his own work he softly blew an icy breath of magic over the fragile looking piece.

"There you go, this time it won't melt, but be careful, it's no toy." he explained gently.

Jamie snorted quietly, giving his sister three seconds at most to break it, but to his surprise she handled the gift with cautiousness he would have never thought her capable of. In slow motion she walked towards the couch, fearing that walking too fast might lead to stumbling over her own feet and destroying it. A tiny sigh of relief escaped her lungs as she had managed to climb on the cushions without an accident. Sitting there cross-legged the blonde toddler admired the beautiful piece of ice in her hands, an expression of wonder written all over her face.

"You know, you're really good with kids. If you want you can visit more often when I'm doomed to babysit." Jamie muttered, still in disbelief at his younger siblings sudden change of attitude.

"My pleasure." Jack said with a cheery voice and bowed down in a dramatically exaggerated way.

The brown-haired boy had to laugh until he suddenly remembered what he had been busy with before the winter spirit showed up.

"Gotta finish the sandwich for Sophie, you want something to eat as well?" he offered and made his way back to the kitchen counter.

"Uh, no thanks, I…wait, is that tuna you have there?"

"Yeah, tuna, salad, eggs and mayonnaise." Jamie shuddered at the combination of ingredients. "For some reason she's really crazy about it. You want one, too?"

As if the greedy look and the drool starting to appear in the corners of Jack's mouth wasn't indication enough, but he felt it was polite enough to ask.

"Well, if you're at it anyway…"

"No big deal." the boy replied nonchalantly and hid his amused grin by turning his back on the Guardian of Fun to prepare the snack.

Even though he was an Immortal, Jack could change from wise spirit to child at heart in a matter of seconds. And everybody who truly saw his worth loved him for exactly those reasons and wouldn't have him any other way.

* * *

Four tuna sandwiches later ( one for Sophie and three for Jack ) the frost teen had agreed to accompany Sophie to her room so she could put her new beloved snowflake somewhere safe, while Jamie was busy cleaning up downstairs.

His mother wasn't very fond of crumbs of bread covering floor and furniture and he didn't want her to complain the moment she set a foot in the house. For sure she would be tired after such a long day of work and extra hours.

When Jamie was done with tidying up and they hadn't returned yet he decided to go and see what was taking them so long.

As it turned out the winter spirit was still in the process of being introduced to the various plush toys and dolls littering the small girl's room. _Every_ single one of them.

The brunette boy wondered where Jack had taken those incredible amounts of patience from

as he greeted every toy which was offered to him with phrases like "Nice to meet you." or "Hey, how're ya doing?" as if it had been the first and not the 15th one in a row.

After an additional hour of playing hide and seek and the two males almost freaking out because Sophie had thought the washing machine would be a good hiding place, they were all sitting together on the couch now and watching a random cartoon on TV.

Sophie was wrapped up in a cozy red blanket and cuddled against Jack while Jamie, wo was sitting next to him on the other side, tried to resist the urge to doze off. The events of the evening and the long day of school preceding it had worn him down.

Soon he had lost the battle and rested his head on Jack's shoulder, seemingly not bothered at all by the spirit's cold body temperature.

At first Jack had been a little taken aback by the children's open display of affection, but a heartbeat later he smiled gently at the two sleeping forms surrounding him and laid protective arms around them.

Those weren't just children who believed in him, no, they were part of his family now. For as much as he could say he considered them his siblings and it didn't matter if they were related through blood or not.

He would never allow anything to happen to them and would protect them for as long as they needed him.

Jack Frost wasn't only the Spirit of Winter and the Guardian of Fun anymore. Now he also was what he had been in his human life 300 years ago.

A big brother.


	16. Selfish 1

**A/N :**

**Hanyoualchemist1 : Thanks for the corrections! ^^**

**Purplefern : I'll definitely do more chapters with Jamie, Sophie and Jack, the chapter was fun to write. Jack is the best older brother ever! **

**JackrabbitFan77 : Thanks and I'll try. :) **

**SaiyanPrincess : You're very welcome, I'm glad when people read and review my stories!**

* * *

_*Sequel to "Jack's Revenge" and "Advantage"*_

The fact that Bunnymund held grudges much longer than North should have been pretty predictable. Deep inside him was a soft core, but the hard shell on the outside could have competed with an armour made of steel if he felt the need for it.

While the old Russian hadn't been delighted about a certain winter spirit _refining_ his beloved cookies with tobasco and setting his mouth on fire the moment he bit into the freshly baked pastry, he also valued a good joke and was willing to laugh at himself. And if he was honest he also had deserved it. After all, Bunny and him had pranked Jack as well and that's what incited him in the first place.

The pooka however wasn't going to let the matter drop so easily. Mutilating his faithful sentinel eggs would have been half as bad hadn't the little bastard used his waterproof paint for it. And when the Easter Bunny created waterproof paint he made damn sure it really was waterproof. For emergencies there were a few bottles of special terpentine stowed in the supplies room of his Warren, but there wasn't nearly enough to remove the paint from 11 huge stone eggs. Manufacturing more of the necesarry liquid would take a lot of time, time he had originally planned to use for egg designs and preparations for next Easter.

So yes, saying that Bunny wasn't happy would have been quite an understatement.

Several days he had stayed in the Warren and tried to wash off as much of the demolishing paint as possible, but in the end there were still 6 sentinel eggs running around with mocking, happy and colourful faces. His paws felt sore from scrubbing the stoney surfaces over and over again and by the time he had run out of terpentine he was an aggravated mental wreck.

One day later he and the others gathered at Santoff Clausen for the monthly guardian meeting.

Although he had prepared himself for meeting the culprit who had caused this mess and decided that murder was not an option, this intent was thrown into a bag and burned in the fireplace the moment he set eyes on the winter spirit who had flown in through an open window and looked as smug as ever.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Jack greeted with his typical crooked grin and flipped his staff over his shoulder.

To Tooth's dismay Bunny jumped in front of her before she had the chance to embrace the boy in a welcome-hug. By instinct the youngest guardian backed down a few steps and grabbed his shepherd's crook firmly in both hands as the large rabbit stomped towards him with a threathening expression written all over his face.

"_YOU!_ You have any idea how bloody much of a nuisance ya are!?"

"Eh, guess so?"

The amused smile about the pooka's irritation only fueled it even more.

"Have ya, for _once_, thought about the consequences of yer actions? Yer stupid prank costed me days of work, I'm behind schedule for the preparations for next Easter, I hope ya're happy now!"

Just like several months ago, Bunny deliberately missed the guilty and shocked look on Jacks face as he shouted accusations at him and kept going on, now with a calmer voice but disgust dripping from every word.

"Of course ya are. That's all ya can do, have fun on other people's expenses, cause them trouble for yer childish pleasure. And ya wanna know why? Because yer a selfish little immature brat!"

North, Tooth and Sandy stood there watching the scene, deeply shocked about the pooka's outburst. All eyes diverted to Jack who still seemed frozen after what had just been screamed at him. It wouldn't have surprised anyone if he had replied with a snarky remark and if they were honest, they longed for it to happen. His hurt but otherwise unreadable expression was worrying them. The gears in his mind seemed to be turning nonstop as they nervously waited for a reaction.

"Selfish…" the frost boy repeated after what had seemed like forever.

Everyone except the Guardian of Hope, who was still obviously disgruntled about the whole situation, shuddered at the soft chuckle that followed. It was far from resembling his usual cheerfulness and sent cold shivers down their spines.

While he had been staring down into the void above the floor during his mental search for an appropriate comeback he now looked his accuser straight in the eye. Also his posture changed from defence to attack.

"_You_ of all people call _me_ selfish?" Jack suddenly blurted out, his voice getting louder with every word.

An icy glare was sent into the other three guardian's direction.

"You think that, too?"

They didn't know what to say, too big was the surprise about the young man's sudden and disturbingly angry seriousness. For Jack, the silence was answer enough.

"This is funny, you know…after all, _you_ were the ones who didn't even bother to say hello to me for freaking _300_ years!"

A small part of him screamed at him to shut up right now, he never had been the one to talk openly about his feelings, mostly because he never had someone to talk to. People should see him as the Guardian of Fun and not as the emotionally broken boy he actually was. And yet, his anger and the frustration about the unfairness of everything got the better of him. Just like his powers building up inside of him when he hadn't used them for too long did his welled up emotions fight for release now. He took a deep but shaky breath before he continued.

"If I recall right the only reason you ever contacted me, excuse me, _kidnapped_ me was because the Man in Moon told you so, right? And the only reason why he chose me to be a guardian was because he needed my powers to help you defeating Pitch. If it wasn't for him, you would have _NEVER_ ever come to me. Guess I should have thanked the old boogeyman for it, huh? Without him I would still be out there all alone without anyone of you giving a damn."

That same creepy chuckle left his mouth as the temperature in the globe room seemed to be dropping continously. Jack was still glaring at Bunny but North, Tooth and Sandy knew his anger was directed at all of them.

"I could have turned down the offer like I had wanted to right in the beginning, you know? Could have gone after my tooth box on my own and abandoned you to your fate, just like you abandoned me for _three_ centuries. But I didn't and heck, I don't even know _why_! Just that it was the right thing to do, so _DON'T_ dare to call _me_ selfish! Because if anyone here is selfish, it's got to be _you_!"

Never had any of the guardians seen their youngest comrade so utterly furious. Every word he spit out at them was fueled with so much anger, so many emotions which he had suppressed deep in his heart for decades if not centuries.

Had he really thought they were taking advantage of him right from the beginning?

* * *

**A/N : I think Jack is one of those people who bottle everything up inside them and suddenly explode when someone pushes the wrong button. And he has every reason to be upset. Next chapter coming soon!**


	17. Selfish 2

**A/N : Thanks for all the reviews, guys! :D**

* * *

North, if he wanted to or not, had to admit his first thought when Jack Frost had been proclaimed to be the next guardian was _'Did Manny have glass of vodka too much?'._  
Said winter spirit hadn't exactly been popular for responsibility and reliance so he questioned his aptitude for this title. But the Man in Moon always had his reasons for whatever he did and he had learned to trust him. If the deity was convinced that Jack was worthy then North would believe it as well.

And yet…as soon as the boy had shown up too late on that fateful Easter Sunday and all evidences pointed against him they wasted no moment of doubt and instantly treated him like a traitor. Especially North had been devastated about the betrayal but now he suddenly started to see it from Jack's point of view.

They couldn't use him to their advantage anymore. He had failed and they immediately dumped him. In his eyes, that's all they cared about : his power.

Why did he come back to help them after all of this then? The realization made North's heart convulse in guilt.

Because Jack wanted to belong. Wanted to make them proud or at least make up for what he had done wrong. And because he knew that it was the only right thing to do, no matter how much they hurt him with their lack of trust and the centuries of ignorance.

Tooth's eyes were overflowing with tears since halfway through the aggravated immortal's speech. Her little fairies had told her about the winter boy with the perfect white teeth for centuries. The stories had inflamed her curiousity and still, she never bothered to interrupt her task of directing the fairies for even a few minutes to take a look at this mysterious spirit and maybe even have a word with him.

After he had been chosen to be a guardian and she had finally met him eye to eye, and even more so during the following days, she realized that her job shouldn't have been her number one priority just for once. If only she had taken a small break to talk to Jack she would have  
realized how lonely and desperate for contact he had been. And above all, that there was a heart of gold hidden under his cold skin and he was worth every nice word and gesture anyone could muster.

He must have felt ridiculed about her excitement when they were introduced to each other. Someone being so hyper about meeting him was surreal when exactly that person had had 300 years to approach him. And hadn't done it.

'Why now?' he must have thought.

The hummingbird hybrid hid her tear stained face in her delicate hands at the bitter truth.

Just because they were in need of his help and were told by the Man in Moon.

Sandy was staring at the stoney floor in shame. Even though he probably was the one of the guardians who had interacted most with him, 'interacting' being an occasional wave or smile directed at the snow teen when the sandman had been roaming the world on his golden dreamsand cloud and stumbled upon him, his kindness seemed so shallow all of a sudden.

He could have done so much more. A few times he had witnessed the boy being plagued by nightmares and chased them away with his dreamsand, replacing the horrible images with pleasant dreams of dolphins and snowball fights. But, as he realized now, this was like putting a band-aid on a broken leg. It didn't cure the root of the problem and only made the pretended helper feel better.

Bunnymund couldn't believe his big fluffy ears. Never had anyone dared to shout at him like that, not with that much scornful anger. Even Pitch himself couldn't have managed to affect him like the white-haired teen did.  
Both Guardian of Hope and Fun had established a more or less healthy rivalry with each other, accompanied by mocking and teasing the other whenever they had the chance to.

But this now, this wasn't a game anymore. The seriousness of the situation and the ice-cold glare he was confronted with caused a shiver to run down his spine. He would have never admitted it, but Jack had hit a nerve. The steely shield of the furry warrior was crumbling, threatening to reveal his caring heart but he was too stubborn to allow it.  
After all, _he_ had been the one who was upset and had any right to be in the first place. Now the tables had been turned and he didn't like it one bit.

Not because he was convinced that the bloody show pony had no right to act like the victim. No, in all honesty it was exactly the opposite.

Jack was right about everything.

Bunny had judged him wrong and treated him like dirt beneath his paws since he had met him for the first time. The blizzard of '68 wasn't a very good start for them and inevitably ruined a potential friendship, but that was another story. He was a guardian, countless centuries old, he should have been wiser and not beared grudges against someone so young for so long.  
During their battle against the Nightmare King he had wasted no occasion to voice or show his disgruntlement about Jack becoming a part of their team.  
He had insulted him, yelled at him, mocked him for his lack of believers and eventually almost hit him in despair about the ruined Easter.

The only reason why he had teeth-gnashingly tolerated him amongst their exclusive group was because MiM told them that they needed his help.

And yet, even after he was outcasted by noone else than Bunny himself, Jack still came back and restored the belief in the last child whose light on the globe was dangerously close to extinguishing forever. Without him they would have crumbled under the force of Pitch's army of nightmares.

The winter spirit could have left them to their demise, after all he was not one of them, but he saved them. He made Jamie believe in the Easter Bunny again, the very Easter Bunny who had chased him away only a few hours earlier.

If Bunny was honest to himself, he wouldn't have done the same for Jack back then. He probably would have seen it as appropriate punishment, as cruel as it might sound.

And for this, he felt ashamed of himself.

Jack had needed them all more badly and for much longer than anyone of them had. 300 years were an incredibly long time to spend with noone but yourself.

The truth always had a tendency to be harsh, but this time the realization was nothing short of painful for the four ancient guardians.

If the Man in Moon hadn't interfered….they would have never bothered to contact Jack.

Everyone of them was too absorbed in their own thoughts and the guilt crawling to the surface that it took them a while to notice the change in their young friend's behaviour.

Tooth was the first who dared to look at him again and the others followed her gaze as a small high-pitched sob escaped her lungs.

Their already strained hearts felt like shattering into pieces when they looked at him.

Blue eyes which had glared with pure hatred previously were now glistening with unshed tears and so much hurt. Clenched teeth had turned into a slightly opened mouth and his staff was pulled against his chest in a death grip.

While he had made the impression of a feisty beast only moments ago, ready to shove any potential apology they might have come up with back down their throats, he now looked like the vulnerable child he was and most likely had always been.

Jack anxiously glanced from one invisible object on the ground to another after he had calmed down from his tantrum and became aware of what he had just done. The shock about his own words and the still impending reaction from the guardians were too much for his fragile soul.

He had to get out of here.

In a heartbeat he had darted towards an open window and jumped into the wind's embrace, urgently pleading it to bring him away. He didn't care whereto, just away.

The last thing he faintly heard was someone shouting his name in the distance.


	18. Selfish 3

**A/N : **

**Frosty & Doublesims : Fixed it! **

**Hanyoualchemist1 : Same here, and the more I like a character the more I like to read angst involving them..or write it myself. Njahahaha. XD**

**SaiyanPrincess : Thank you and you're welcome. ^^**

**Guest : I will. **

**TTT : No, please stay alive! *updates quickly* **

**Allysun08 : Thanks a lot! Cliffhangers are so much fun to do, heheh.**

* * *

"Crickey, mates, we gotta get after him!"

To everyone's surprise Bunny was the first to propose the next action.

"No."

Pooka as well as the sandman couldn't believe their ears and shot the Russian man a questioning look while Tooth, who had tried in vain to call Jack back, had dropped onto the windowsill and was still staring into the empty void of the snowy landscape around the workshop.

"What d'ya mean _'no'_? North, the kid's upset, he's completely unpredictable so we gotta find him before anything bad happens!"

"So you really care about Jack, it seems?"

Despite the serious situation the Guardian of Wonder couldn't help but taunt him for his sudden and obvious worry. The large rabbit's face fell and he looked like a child who had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar before he quickly cleared his throat and regained his composure.

"Well, no, yeah- ghee, mate, he's one of us! It's our responsibility if something happens ta him and I don't wanna be blamed for anything, alright?"

Sandy and North exchanged a well-knowing glance between each other and then went back to discussing the issue at hand.

"We are all worried about Jack, but he needs time, if just a little, to calm down. Has no use to go after him already, he'll probably just run off again."

To their dismay, they had to agree. If he had been ready to talk further about it then the youngest guardian wouldn't have fled in panic.

Tooth, who was still sitting at the window and had overheard the discussion, interrupted the silence which had followed with a despondent voice.

"How long?"

All eyes were directed towards the hummingbird-fairy.

"How long until we're going to search him? I know he might not want to talk to us right now, but what if he does and is just too scared? He's out there on his own and he's upset and I-I don't like this _at all_. He shouldn't be alone now. He should _never_ have been alone in the first place."

A single tear trickled down her cheek while she spoke, her emotions once more getting the better of her. Pregnant silence filled the globe room. The four guardians looked at each other at a loss at what to do and waiting for someone to suggest something.

This time it was Sandy's turn to speak up, or rather signal his idea in form of dreamsand.

Golden swirls quickly transformed into a clock showing the current time, then had the short hand fast-forward to the next hour. The image changed into a traffic-light with the symbol for "Stop" going out and the one for "Go" shining brightly.

To his delight everyone seemed to get the drift. If not, North made it clear by translating it just in case.

"I think Sandy has got point. We wait for one hour and then follow Jack."

Everyone nodded their agreements at the suggestion. That way their young comrade would have some time to clear his mind and they wouldn't have to sit at the workshop worrying themselves sick for the rest of the day.

Suddenly another problem presented itself though.

"Uh, I don't wanna ruin the mood even more but…how the hell are we supposed ta find the lil' bugger? He could be anywhere on the planet." Bunny discerned.

Tooth sighed softly, Sandy's face turned into a thoughtful expression and the pooka himself already mentally prepared himself for going on a worldwide manhunt.

North seemed to be the only one of them who didn't look disturbed about the trouble concerning Jack's whereabouts.

"Is no problem, I have special globe for emergencies like this."

Before anyone could ask about it any further the big Russian had called one of his yetis who quickly left the room and returned not even a minute later, handing over an exact replica of the globe behind them, though this one was a lot smaller, about the size of an ordinary snowglobe. And instead of showing the millions of lights of children who believed in them there were only 5 differently coloured ones shining on it.

Red, golden, green and purple lights were gathered at the same spot while a blue one's location constantly changed as it travelled over the Atlantic Ocean.

"So that thing tells ya where each of us guardians is located, eh? Why haven't ya told us about that gimmick before?"

The question of the Australian was justified. If someone could check where he was 24/7 then he would have liked to be informed about that, thank you very much.

"Exactly. Is new invention I've been working on, thought it might be useful some day. However, didn't think that day would come so fast."

"So, all we gotta do is wait for an hour and then we can drag Frostbite's ass back to the Pole. Shouldn't be too hard."

If only he had known how long an hour could turn out to be.


	19. Selfish 4

**A/N :**

**Hanyoualchemist1 : Gheez, I always re-read my chapters and still miss those stupid typos. Fixed it now. XP**

**TTT / Allysun08 / Mikazuki Mitsukai : Thanks a lot ! ^^**

**SaiyanPrincess : Tooth in worried mother-hen-mode is adorable, I agree. :)**

**AinsleyWright : Thanks. I think it's a little bit disturbing that there won't be anymore hiding from North now. He'll always know where they are. Always. *lol***

* * *

The wind carried him away, as far away as possible. He didn't want to be found anytime soon, at least not before he had made up his mind about how he was going to deal with it.

With speed that would have put a jetplane to shame he crossed a whole ocean until he reached the place he had always come to when he couldn't take the cruelty of the world anymore. The place where he didn't have to face anything or anyone.

Antarctica.

As soon as his feet had touched the icy ground Jack felt is legs tremble under the weight of his emotional state.

Why had he done it? Why had he lost control over himself? Why had he been so…so _stupid_!?

The guardians and him had been on good terms, he was even starting to see them as family and a tiny part of him believed they felt the same about him.

But nooo, he had to act like a hysteric brat and ruin it all by screaming accusations at them. No matter how justified it had felt that moment, as soon as he had become aware of his own words he had felt nothing but guilt, shame and anger directed at himself.

And above all, fear.

He feared that he had dug his own grave, so to speak. That the guardians wouldn't forgive him his outburst, all the mean things he had thrown at them.

He feared they would take this occasion to cast him out once and for all.

No, they wouldn't do that, they really did care about him. Or did they? And even if so, was their, he had trouble forming the word in his mind, _love_ strong enough to forgive him his temper?

For who knows how long he walked aimlessly through the white no-man's-land, stuck in his own destructive thoughts until he noticed something from the corner of his eyes catching his attention.

An enormous bizarre sculpture made of black ice protruded from the vast emptiness, countless razor sharp spikes seemingly stabbing the cold air surrounding it.

Jack sighed in disbelief, followed by a low sarcastic chuckle.

Antarctica was _huge_ and of all the places the wind could have dropped him it chose to bring him close to where he had fought with Pitch several months ago.

The place where he had actually considered, if only for a short moment, to join the Nightmare King after the guardians had turned their backs on him.

Where he had handed his staff, his only possession and conduit of power, to him and had to experience what physical pain its destruction caused.

Where Baby Tooth had almost died because of him.

Of course this also had been the very place where he had watched his memories for the first time, where he had realized why he had been chosen, restored his faith, fixed his staff and saved the little fairy.

But right now he was too upset to take notice of that, his disturbed mind being too strongly focused on the negative aspects of what had happened here.

To him, this sculpture wasn't the proof of a good fight and eventual victory against the boogeyman, it was the mocking reflection of whatever mess he had caused in his 300 years of existence.

Suddenly anger boiled up inside him, he could still hear Pitch's evil laughter echoing from that blasted monstrosity of black ice.

With a frantic scream he lunged into the air and fired his powers at the frozen sculpture with an energetic swirl of his staff. However, the combination of ice and nightmare sand proved to be sturdier and therefor harder to destroy than he had assumed. He had hoped it would crumble into pieces after a single attack but all he had managed to pulverize was the top and a few of the spikes.

Not even this he could do right. Teeth clenched, fists balled and eyes squeezed shut before his heartbeat increased to unknown heights and another, this time even more furious, attack followed.

When the snowy dust around him cleared and he had to see that there was still half of the freaking thing standing tall any remainder of sober reasoning was forgotten. With blind anger he threw himself against it, kicking and beating the slick surface, smiling in desperate glee whenever a crack appeared or when he managed to break off one of the few opposing spikes.

The wind, who had observed this unusual alarming behaviour decided that enough was enough and embraced his young master in a soft embrace. Jack struggled against the faint touch but it didn't succumb.

With the force of a brick hitting him he abruptly came back to his senses and realized what he was doing.

He was losing control and letting his temper get the better of him…again. Was allowing his anger to roam free and cause nothing but destruction.

Resigned about himself the winter teen let the wind carry him back down to the ground where he collapsed to his knees the moment it had released him. Fresh tears started falling from his sapphire blue eyes as he let go of his staff and grabbed his head in despair, his fingers entangled in wild locks of white hair.

Why did he keep messing everything up?

* * *

**A/N : I feel a little guilty for Jack, so much angst. He needs hugs. *hugs him***


	20. Selfish 5

**A/N :**

**inabox : I'm a _very_ emotional person so I guess that's why I also like my stories to be extremely touchy-feely, hehe.**

**SaiyanPrincess : Thank you! Trying my best because he's one of the most interesting and complex characters ever ( at least in my opinion ) and I don't wanna make him seem like the average teenager. The 300 years are a damn important part of his life, can't believe some people ignore this.**

**Hanyoualchemist : Awww, Jack Frost plushie would be adorable. Okay, they actually made one but it's so...ugly. They made him look like a freaking chibi anime character. :|**

**Daughter Earth 89 : Yes, it'll be alright, just some more angst to go... *g***

**lemonChocolate : Thanks a lot, glad you like them! Though I don't plan to write a chapter about cutting, there are already so many stories dealing with that and as much as I like writing angst I feel uncomfortable about this topic ( because of friend-related reasons ).**

**IbelieveinJackFrost : Nice to hear you enjoy it! A psychologist would be very fascinated about us fangirls, I'm not sure either why we long for angst involving our favourite characters. *lol***

* * *

"Blimey, why did it have ta be the South Pole of all places!?"

Okay, he had been glad that the darn hour had been over and they could finally get into action, but being forced to travel in the death trap called sleigh _and_ to the coldest continent on Earth right after the one he had currently been staying at was a little too much for the Easter Bunny's strained nerves. At least he had been able to stay inside the cozy warm workshop so far, but now he was clinging to the interior of the sleigh and felt the chilling breeze ruffling up his fur.

"We're still at North Pole, Bunny." the Guardian of Wonder stated matter-of-factly.

"I don't care, mate, it's both too cold for my likin'."

As soon as the reindeers had reached the ultimate flying altidude North pulled one of his magic snowglobes from his coat pocket and whispered the estimated coordinates to it.

Within a heartbeat and a panicked yell from a certain pooka later the sleigh along with its passengers had been swallowed by a huge silvery portal and been spit out in near identical surroundings again. If they hadn't known it any better they would have assumed to still be at the Nort Pole.

To Bunny's joy the torturous sleighride came to an end as North skillfully landed his vehicle in the middle of the white landscape.

The four guardians dismounted onto the icy ground and it didn't take too long for the inevitable to happen.

"Can't feel ma feet anymore already…"

Everyone shook their heards at the grumpy Australian and fully directed their concentration on their mission.

"Where is Jack? I can't see him anywhere, North, didn't you say he'd be here?" Tooth said with a worried voice while she looked around the vast scenery and saw nothing but ice and snow.

All eyes turned at the bulky man who only lowered his head with a sigh and then rubbed the back of his neck in embarassment.

"Well, _'guardian globe'_ is only prototype, it can't determine location of any of us exactly. There's a radius of about 3 miles we have to scour."

Before anyone even remotely had the opportunity to look discouraged Bunny blurted out :

"Well, then we better get going before my ears freeze off!"

Finding Jack turned out to be more difficult than they had hoped.

The white scenery seemed to be endless, looking the same whereever they turned. Tooth had suggested to split up in an attempt to increase the chances of finding the winter teen faster but North claimed it was too dangerous to do so. They could become lost in the infinite extent of snow and ice so he insisted they should stay together.

Increasing wind started to whirl up snow, not nearly enough to be be called a snowstorm but still enough to trouble their vision.

Bunny had just taken a deep breath to voice is disgruntlement about the situation once more as the wind suddenly changed its direction and instead of blowing into their faces now pushed against their backs, ever so gently urging them into a different direction than the one they were originally headed for.

"Uh, guys, you feel this, too?" Tooth asked in confusion.

For her and Sandy who were floating in the air the wind's strange behaviour had been even more noticeable.

"Yes, and we should follow wind, I have feeling that it will guide us to Jack."

North led the way and noone wasted a moment to change their course as well. With every metre they had left behind them the wind seemed to get more excited as it swirled around them and urged them to continue. They had almost reached their goal, North was sure of it. He could feel it in his belly.

The sandman was the first to see it. Exclamation marks danced over his head when he jumped in front of his comrades and pointed at a spot in the distance, creating a spyglass of dreamsand to indicate that they had to look closely. Blue, green and purple eyes squinted and then widened in bewilderment.

"What is _that?_" North asked noone in particular as he tried to identify the bizarre black object amongst the vastness of white.

"Only one way ta find out, mate."

* * *

**A/N : Next chapter will be much longer, I just thought this was a nice cliffhanger. ;)**


	21. Selfish 6

**A/N : **

**AinsleyWright : I'll see what I can do. :)**

**To everyone else : Thank you so much for your nice comments / follows and favourites and I hope you like this chapter, it's one of my longest ones so far. **

* * *

Jack was exhausted. Not just from his recent use of power but from mental pain above all. His ravaged mind told him over and over again that he had single-handedly destroyed the slowly growing bond between the guardians and him. While he had been convinced to be in the right when he had let his anger out at Santoff Clausen he now loathed himself for acting like a hysteric little brat. The past lay behind him and there was no way to change it, so why did he still feel so touchy about it? It should have mattered to have friends…a _family _now, but still the 300 years of loneliness haunted him like nothing else.

His tired body leaned against the remains of the dark icy sculpture, subconsciously accepting his mistakes to be a part of him, something he couldn't destroy and had to live with.

Maybe he had just pushed the guardians away so they wouldn't be the ones to push him away first? Maybe he was scared of allowing them too close, getting too close, too attached only to have everything he had ever dreamed of ripped away from him again once they got fed up with his antics? Maybe, maybe…he didn't know.

The ancient shepherd's crook lay losely in his hands as he rested his head on the smooth cold surface with his hood pulled up and legs drawn up to his chest. Neither the soft embrace of the wind nor the presence of his very own element surrounding him managed to be any comfort.

A small, naïve and desperate part of him hoped they would come looking for him. But another part, the wounded one that was the majority of his soul, convinced him that this was nothing but wishful thinking. Right now they were probably discussing how he wasn't guardian material and would be stripped off that title as soon as Man in Moon agreed.

Jack was tired of worrying, tired of being sad. At the moment he wanted nothing more than his troubled mind to leave him alone. With a weak sigh he closed his eyes and welcomed the upcoming waves of fatigue taking possession over him.

* * *

"This ain't nothing natural." Bunny stated as they approached the ominous object.

They were now close enough to realize it was made of ice but it was much darker than it should have been. Sandy's expression turned into a frown when he noticed a faint layer of black dust on the otherwise snowy white ground and knelt down to further examine it.

"Is that…nightmare sand?" Tooth asked, worry overshadowing her voice.

The little golden man nodded and kicked off the hummingbird hybrid's panic by this simple action.

"Does that mean Pitch is back? That cannot be, we defeated him only months ago, there's no way he could have regenerated so fast. But if he did and kidnapped Jack and oh my God, if he did anything to him I swear I'm going to kick his-"

Sandy interrupted the upset fairy by floating in front of her and gesturing with his arms as a signal for her to calm down. As he was sure to have everyone's attention the Guardian of Dreams pointed at the black sand and then created a calendar over his head whose sheets were ripped off one after the other.

"Ya mean this nightmare sand is months old already?" Bunny wanted to make sure he had gotten it right and Sandy nodded in confirmation.

Noone had a clue about how he was able to determine the age of it but he was the sandman after all so they didn't even consider doubting his expertise.

The four guardians cleared the remaining distance between the creepy sculpture and themselves and halted to a stop all at once as they caught sight of the hooded figure that was huddled up against it with his back turned at them. As realization dawned North and Tooth were the first ones who set out to hurry to their youngest teammember but they were stopped by a furry flash of grey swiftly jumping in front of them.

"Not so fast, mates, ya don't want him to run off again right away, do ya?" the large rabbit whispered.

He had a point, if they just stomped towards the boy and startled him he would most likely flee in terror the next moment. Although they really hoped he wouldn't be terrified of them but his mental state was inscrutable at the time being.

"What do you suggest we do then?" North asked, trying his best to keep his voice down.

Just as he had finished the sentence they caught a glimpse of a golden shape floating past them and getting closer to Jack. Bunny wanted to call him back but then realized that shouting would only alarm the winter spirit of their presence and if there was someone who was quiet enough to sneak up to him then it had to be the sandman.

As soon as he had touched down in front of the crouching teen and taken a short look at him Sandy's expression turned into slight worry before he signaled them with a golden snowflake followed by several _'Zzzzz'_s that he was sleeping.

Tooth hadn't missed the concern in her friend's eyes and wasted no single second to join him by Jack's side. While Bunny and North were walking towards them the fairy knelt down in front of the boy and reached for his hood, pulling it down carefully and slowly as to not wake him in the process. A weak gasp escaped her mouth when she noticed the cause of Sandy's worry. Despite being fast asleep the white-haired teen's expression was far from relaxed, he looked like someone who was forcing himself to forget somethig bad but not remotely managing to do so. Tracks of frozen tears were sticking to his pale cheeks, his arms embracing himself in a desperate attempt for comfort. It was a heart-wrenching sight.

With a tender move the hummingbird hybrid brushed her delicate hands over his face and removed the icy drops from his cold skin. She was sure Jack didn't want them to see him like this, but above all _she_ couldn't take it to see him like this.

A gentle smile appeared on the Guardian of Memories' features as the winter spirit leaned into the touch ever so slightly. Shifting weakly it became obvious that he wouldn't stay asleep much longer and Tooth decided that it was the right moment to whisper :

"Jack? Sweetie, it's time to wake up." she cooed, her tiny fingers stroking his face softly.

The frost boy squinted against the sun shining right into his eyes, shielding and rubbing them with his own hand after Tooth had let go of him. When his vision finally adjusted he became aware of his surroundings and particularly the people standing around him. Sapphire orbs widened in shock as he almost choked on a gasp and jumped to his feet, only to realize his back was pressed against smooth black ice. He was trapped.

"Easy there, mate, it's okay." Bunny said in a soothing tone the rest of the group hadn't thought him to be capable of.

Big ears or not, the pooka could literally hear the young man's heart hammering against his chest in panic. Was he serioulsy scared of them or was it something else? Both options weren't to his liking…at all.

"W-what are you doing here? How did you find me?" Jack asked nervously, gripping his staff so tightly that his knuckles turned whiter than they already were.

"Is not important how we did, what matters is that we found you." North replied calmly. "Jack, we need to talk about what happened. We are-"

"I know…" the boy interrupted with a downcast expression. "You're dissappointed at me and you have every right to be. I'm sorry for, well, for everything. I shouldn't have yelled at you guys and insulted you and then run off, it was totally immature and guardian-unworthy and I really, _really_ regret it. I know it's much to be asked for but can't we just pretend this never happened and go on with everything just like before?"

Their hearts threatened to melt even in the ice cold weather when he looked at them like a beaten puppy with a begging and vaguely hopeful smile on his face.

"No, we can't pretend it never happened, mate." Bunny stated, this time in a confident and firm voice.

Jack flinched at this but the Guardian of Hope shrugged it off and continued.

"Seriously, mate, ya shouldn't be the one ta apologize. I can't believe I'm saying this and I swear to the Man in Moon that I'll kick yer sorry butt should you ever use it against me, but ya're right. I treated ya like crap without even truly knowing ya and I'm sorry 'bout it."

"We all are sorry, Jack." North concured. "There's nothing that justifies ignoring you for centuries but we'll try everything we can do to make up for it. I am grateful to Manny for choosing you, otherwise we would have been too blind to see what good soul you are."

The Tooth Fairy was the next to speak up.

"I wish I had met you sooner and it was my fault it never happened because I was only caring about my work. You mean a lot to us, Jack, and I wouldn't want to exchange you for all the teeth in the world."

It wasn't the first time in his existence that Sandy regretted not being able to speak. Trying to get his message across as clearly as possible he formed several shapes over his head.

A clock with anticlockwise rotation, a big "X", an exclamation mark, a miniature of Jack joining the other 4 of them resulting in a group hug and an infinity sign.

"_There's no way to turn back time, but you're one of us now and we'll stay together forever."_

The Russian Santa smiled warmly at the flabbergasted teen who was staring at them in bewilderment as if he couldn't believe his own ears.

"You see, we all _do_ care about you. We obviously didn't do for the last 300 years but we do now. Man in Moon couldn't have picked a better guardian."

Everyone's eyes were fixed on the winter spirit in anticipation of his reaction. As he didn't say anything but instead kept looking at each of them unsurely North inquired further.

"So, Jack…do you forgive us?"

Finally the frost child was ripped out of his trance like state.

"Yes…_YES_, sure I do!" he choked out, stubbornly refusing to let fresh tears fall again. "I…I…"

He was at a total loss for anymore words but there was no need to say anything else. North stepped forwards and pulled the lean boy into a tight hug, though careful enough to not crush him with his strenght. Tooth and Sandy joined, putting their arms around the youngest one as well. Standing on the side Bunny still weighted the pros and cons of a group hug until none other than North grabbed him by the wrist and brashly pulled him to the rest of them.

A single tear of joy trickled down Jack's face but he quickly brushed it away before anyone could notice.

There was a moment of complete silence. Noone moved, they just remained in the embrace of each other, enjoying the comfort and love of their strange little family.

Time seemed to stand still.

"Ya know…this gotta be the sappiest thing I've ever witnessed."

"Bunny!" Tooth protested.

North broke out into laughter, Sandy shook his head with a soundless chuckle and Jack laughed for the first time after what had seemed like an eternity.

"It is, old friend, but is good, no?"

"Yeah, even the grumpy Easter Bunny needs a hug once in a while, right?"

And with that, the Guardian of Fun was back.

"Oh ha-ha, Frostbite. I'm a warrior, touchy-feely stuff isn't my cup of tea."

Tooth smirked as she got a mischievous glint in her eyes and the pooka didn't like it one bit.

"Really now? Barely two hours ago you were freaking out over Jack gone missing and-"

"AHEM!" Bunny cleared his throat loudly to stop her from spitting out anymore information which could likely be used against him one day.

"I don't wanna ruin the party, mates, but can we move this to the workshop, I'm turning into an icicle here."

Everyone nodded their agreements and headed back to the sleigh with North leading the way.

"By the way, Frosty…."

Jack looked at the large rabbit who was walking next to him with a raised eyebrow.

"Even though I'm sorry for what I did in the past…I expect ya ta help me cleaning up the mess you caused."

"Uh, excuse me?"

"The sentinel eggs, mate. Ya _had _to use my waterproof paint, didn't ya?"

"Well, would have been too easy for you if I had used something else…" Jack shrugged, feeling the littlest bit of guilt.

"It surely would have spared ya a lot of trouble 'cause now ya'll have a fun time scrubbing paint off rocks."

"Awww, come on!" Jack pouted but the pooka's stern look made him shut up.

"Oh well, _fine_."

The winter teen flew towards the sleigh as soon as it came into sight, leaving a very triumphantly grinning Bunnymund behind. It didn't take the others long to join him but it had been enough time for the boy to think it over.

"I have an offer for you."

"Ya already agreed to it."

"Doesn't matter, so you wanna hear it or not?"

"Spit it out."

"I'll help you getting the paint off the sentinels and I won't quit before they're as good as new."

"So far so good."

"IF you ensure that all copies of those humiliating photos, and you KNOW damn well what I'm talking about, will be destroyed and we'll never talk about this again."

Jack crossed his arms and glared at the large rabbit with an expectant look in his eyes that screamed _'Accept it or forget it."_.

After reconsidering this compromise for a moment Bunny sighed in defeat. This had seriously been enough drama for today and he agreed it would be best to just get over it. A furry paw was extended towards the winter boy and he shook it with a relieved and victorious smile on his face.

"Deal."

* * *

** A/N: One more chapter to go, kinda like an epilogue. The guardians will want to know about the nightmare sand / ice sculpture. ;)**


	22. Selfish 7

**A/N : Thanks for the new reviews / favourites / follows! ^^**

**Time-LadyMararder : Hehe, I had several baking fails as well, but at least the were worth a laugh and were still edible, despite looking like horrible genetic manipulations gone wrong. XD**

**Actually I had pondered to use the quote from Lilo & Stitch but I had been watching Dolphin Tale a lot recently so I chose the other quote.**

**Okay, last chapter for this arc!**

* * *

Like he had promised, Jack did help Bunny with cleaning the gigantic sentinel eggs. While the pooka had been busy merging the ingredients necessary for more of his special terpentine the Guardian of Fun was applying the small amount of already prepared liquid on the stoney surfaces and scrubbing the ( far too slowly for his liking ) dissipating paint off. After not even 5 minutes of work he understood why Bunny had been so aggravated, this stuff was a pain to get rid of! Of course he had known that the paint was waterproof but hadn't expected it to be _that_ persistent.

However, it had taken the two guardians almost a whole week to restore the initial appearance of the oval-shaped rocks and get rid of even the last tiny bits of remainder from Jack's revenge. By the time they were done he swore that he would _never_ ever use waterproof colours for pranks anymore.

A few days after they had finished the task North invited everyone to Santoff Clausen, claiming it would be a good idea to see each other now and then to just relax and talk next to their usual monthly guardian meetings. In fact he as well as the others were bothered by one question ever since they found Jack in Antarctica and they needed to know the truth.

The elves had brought plates of cookies, fruit cake and mugs of eggnog to the globe room and offered them to the guardians who where enjoying their chat. Tooth eyed the cookies suspiciously until North confirmed that his little helpers had baked sugarless ones just for her.

Jack was sprawled out on a big comfy red armchair, his legs dangling out on one side while he sipped the eggnog from a silvery mug. The first time he had tasted the liquid he almost had spit it out again, the taste was just too foreign to him but after a while he got used to it and now he actually enjoyed drinking it.

"So Jack…" North suddenly interjected and his tone changed into something the winter spirit couldn't pinpoint, but it sounded like something serious was going to follow.

He looked at the large Russian expectantly and with slight worry about what he was gonna say. Still his curiosity seemed to outweigh his fear for just a short moment.

"…I wondered…well, _we_ wondered if you know anything about that black ice sculpture where we found you."

"Yeah, there was nightmare sand scattered all around it, but accordin' ta Sandy it's old so do ya have any clue what happened there?" Bunny added.

There was a tense silence, the four original guardians eagerly waiting for a reply while hoping the unpleasant question wouldn't cause their youngest comrade to run off again in case he should have something to hide.

Surprisingly enough, Jack just took a deep breath to ready himself for the answer and grabbed the mug in his hands tighter. They were his friends, his family, if they wanted to know the truth then he should tell them. Even if he felt more than uncomfortable about it.

"Well…you remember the Easter fiasco, right? After that I flew to Antarctica to clear my mind…I always went there when everything just became too much and I needed a place to think and….oh nevermind."

The frost teen fumbled the smooth surface of the mug with nervous fingers, trying to keep his mind focused.

"However, suddenly Pitch showed up, we fought, he wanted to convince me you were the bad guys and he my potential new best buddy and tried pulling me to the dark side. But I refused and got my butt kicked. And while that all happened our powers collided and that creepy nightmare sand ice thing was the result. End of the story."

Noone said a word. He had told it all in a hurry and with nonchalance like it wasn't a big deal, but he seriously only wanted to get over with it as fast as possible. What he expected from them he didn't know, he just wished this awkward silence would end.

Tooth was the first to break it.

"You fought Pitch…even after we treated you the way we did?"

"Yeah, of course. I messed up and felt guilty for it and he wanted to take advantage on me and…you know I don't like it when people do that."

Jack cleared his throat as he noticed his friends looking ashamed for a split second and quickly continued.

"I'm not a genius but I recognize a bad guy when he's standing in front of me and heck, Pitch is the personification of evil and you are exactly the opposite so…"

He took another, this time more shallow breath.

"…I needed to stop him."

"What exactly did he do to ya, mate?" Bunny asked out of the blue.

The thought of Jack fighting the boogeyman completely on his own did leave a sour taste and he had to know what happened after they had…_he_ had chased the winter boy away.

Noone was surprised that the teen hesitated and bit his lip nervously, debating if he should tell them or if he had revealed far too much already. When they were sure they wouldn't get anymore information out of him he suddenly continued in a very quiet voice.

"After I refused joining him he…he had Baby Tooth as hostage. He wanted me to trade my staff for her because I kept messing up his plans. I agreed but it was a trap and he threw her into a ravine and did the same with me…after he broke my staff."

Soft gasps filled the air as he continued to get it over with.

"When I had almost given up my tooth box started glowing and Baby Tooth showed me how to watch my memories. I saw my…my sister."

His lips formed into a small smile.

"That's when I realized that Man in Moon chose me because I always tried to protect her and that I was indeed a guardian. So I fixed my staff since Pitch had been so _nice_ to throw it down the ravine as well, flew to his lair to free the tooth fairies but they couldn't fly because of the lack of children believing in them, saw that there was only one last light on the globe and realized it was Jamie so I traveled back to Burgess and you know the rest."

The explanation had gotten faster and faster towards the end. Jack seriously wasn't eager to get into more detail and deliberately left out the part about his death. For some reason he still didn't feel ready to talk about it and there had been enough drama recently, he didn't need the guardians pitying him even more. Heck, after what he had told them he must have sounded like some kind of martyr. Mentally he facepalmed at himself.

"Okay, guys, please say something or at least give me a sign you're still alive, this silence is driving me nuts."

As soon as he had finished the sentence a green feathery form had collided with him, embracing him in a death grip. Fortunately he managed to not spill the remaining eggnog in the mug in his hands over the hummingbird hybrid when she glomped him.

"Gosh Jack, I'm so sorry for doubting you back then! I should have known you would never betray us and...and-"

"It's okay, Tooth." he reassured her with a smile and awkwardly patted her back with his free hand.

"Can't change the past, what happened happened. It's the present and future which matters, right?"

"Still, I wish we could change past." North said honestly. "We were unfair towards you and that shouldn't have happened. I hope you can forgive us."

Jack gave them a warm smile and winked, his usual cheery self shining through.

"I already did. Nobody's perfect, eh?"

"That sure is right." the Russian man agreed, returning the smile.

And yet, he still felt horribly guilty and ashamed of himself. From now on he would do everything in his might to make up for the centuries of ignorance and the lack of trust. Jack deserved a caring family and North swore to himself that he wouldn't neglect or misjudge the boy anymore.

Throughout the conversation Bunny had stayed disturbingly quiet. While Jack had been telling his story the pooka was haunted by all the insults and accusations he had thrown at the boy whenever they had met. He had treated him like an unworthy brat and yet he had taken a stand for the guardians. Not only had he fought Pitch on his own, he even restored Jamie's belief in the Guardian of Hope.

He surely had a lot to put right. It wouldn't be an easy task since the winter spirit had a talent for annoying the hell out of him but he would do his best to show him that he was a part of them now.

A member of their weird little family.

The little brother he had never wanted but didn't want to miss now anymore.

Without him being aware of it, the other guardians had similar thoughts. Before the battle against the Nightmare King they had just done their jobs apart from each other and only met when there was a stringent necessity to do so. But Jack had brought them together, turned them into a family, tightened the bonds between each of them. How he had done it, they weren't sure. And it didn't really matter. What mattered was that he had done so much for them, prooved that he was anything but selfish and would sacrifice himself for those he cared for without a moment of hesitation.

He was worthy of being a guardian, more than anyone else.

And they would do their best to show him how grateful they were. For his trust, his love, his forgiveness and his loyalty.

Because they would never want to live without the Guardian of Fun anymore.


	23. Snow Days & Fun Times 1

**A/N : Sorry for not updating sooner! This was supposed to be a oneshot but it got longer and longer so I'm turning this into an arc of 3 chapters. Beware, it's gonna be cute! ;)**

* * *

The obnoxiously loud ringing of the alarm clock ripped young Jamie Bennett away from his pleasant dreams about snowball fights and sleigh rides.

On every other day in the past few weeks he had been excited to get up, ran to the window in hope of being blessed with a view of white scenery, only to be dissappointed when bare trees and brownish green grass seemed to mock him. It was late October and he had been waiting eagerly for the first snow. He had been bugging Jack, who had been visiting now and then, about it but the guardian always told him that it wasn't time for winter yet and that he had to be patient. With every passing day the child's hope grew and at the same time his patience ran short whenever he was greeted by the everlasting autumn landscape.

But today was different.

It was Friday and while he should have been excited about the upcoming weekend he wished he wouldn't have to go to school today. The reason for his aversion could be summed up in two words. Math exam. Jamie hated math and he hated exams, making it double as bad. He turned over in the warm and comfy sheets of his bed, burrying his face in the pillow. No way he would get up anytime soon.

"Jamie, wake up, breakfast is ready!" the voice of his mother echoed through the whole house.

So much for that.

With a groan the boy reluctantly dragged himself out of bed and groggily walked past the window to his wardrobe. After a quick glance he squinted his eyes shut, the white brightness outside was blinding him. Wait….white? In a heartbeat he was wide awake and stormed to the window, almost crashing into the glass in sheer excitement.

It had finally snowed! And not just a bit, no, this was _the_ snow day of all snow days! Cars were hidden under thick layers of white, the branches of trees threatened to break under the heavy weight and the few people who were already out had to force their way through almost knee-deep snow.

It was _perfect_! School would be closed today without a doubt and instead of an excruciating math exam he would have fun with Jack and his other friends!

The moment he had turned is back on the window a snowball was thrown against it to draw his attention back to the outside world. He didn't have to think much about who might be responsible for it.

"Jack!" the young Bennett shouted happily and hurried to open the window, letting his favourite winter spirit inside.

He flew into the room and gracefully landed on the colourful carpet, casually leaning his staff over his shoulder. A proud smirk appeared on his face.

"Hey, Jamie! You like my masterpiece?"

"It's awesome! It has never snowed that much at this time of year before!"

"Haha, yeah…I probably should have waited a little longer but whatever, people will just blame the climate change for it anyway." the frost teen shrugged nonchalantly.

Truth was, Jack couldn't bear to see the dissappointed look in Jamie's eyes anymore whenever his first believer asked him when there would be the first snow and he had to stave him off. Winter giving an early guest appearance wouldn't hurt anyone.

"Are you ready for the snowball fight of your life?" he asked with his typical crooked grin.

"Yes, yes, yes! You bet!" the boy shouted with glee while jumping up and down in excitement.

He stopped dead in his tracks when the door was suddenly swung open and his mother stood there with a stern look.

"Are you talking to Jack Frost again?" she asked matter-of-factly.

Jamie rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. Surely his Mom must have thought he was insane by now, always talking to someone she couldn't see and didn't believe in.

"Uhm, yeah…"

"Well, you can talk to him later, breakfast is ready so get dressed. And oh, they announced on the radio that the school's closed today, because of the heaps of snow. Thought you might like those news." she winked and closed the door behind her as she left the room again. However not before emphasizing her point by adding "Don't dawdle!".

Jamie rolled his eyes and then looked back at the Guardian of Fun who smiled at him in return. If it was pity or amusement he wasn't sure.

"Better hurry before she gets mad, I'll wait for you at the hills right next to the forest." Jack chuckled and headed towards the open window.

"And don't forget your sleigh!"

"Okay, see ya later!" the young boy waved at the frost teen as he jumped out and let the wind carry him away from the Bennett's house.

* * *

"You're surely taking your time, young man." Mrs. Bennett remarked as her son finally entered the kitchen.

"Sorry, Mom."

Jamie sat on the chair next to his little sister and poured maple syrup over freshly baked pancakes, which were rather lukewarm by now though. Judging from her smeary hands his younger sibling didn't bother using the fork lying right in front of her on the table.

"Aww, Soph, I told you already not to eat with your hands!" his mother groaned in frustration and stood up to get a wet kitchen towel.

"So, what are your plans for today?" she asked while she was wiping the sticky syrup from her daughters hands.

"I'll meet Ja-, uhm, I'll meet with my friends, have snowball fights, sleigh rides, you know, taking advantage of the weather." he grinned and stuffed a forkful of pancake into his mouth.

"Me, too!" screeched Sophie, knowing very well that the funny nice boy with the white hair would be there as well.

"Oh, honey, I think you're a little too young for this."

The blonde toddler looked at her mother with big quickly watering eyes, making it obvious that this hadn't been the answer she was hoping for.

"But, but…sleigh! Me, too!" she continued whining.

No way she would give up already. Mrs. Bennett however stayed as stubborn as her offspring.

"No buts. Jamie is going out with his friends. Maybe you two can go on a sleigh ride later this winter, but not today. We'll do some errands at the mall and you decide where we'll have lunch, how does that sound?"

For rational people it would have been a good compromise but Sophie wasn't happy with it at all. This was unfair, why was her brother allowed to have fun outside and she had to accompany her Mom to do boring shopping? The 3-year-old's lips quivered dangerously and Jamie quickly shoved the last bit of the pancakes into his mouth and said goodbye as he got up and hurried to the door. As he put on his thick jacket and his boots he could hear his sister crying miserably and his mother trying to calm the upset child down. With a sigh of relief that he was out of this mess he slammed the door shut behind him and headed for the garage to get his sleigh.

* * *

The day was the epitome of awesomeness.

On the way to the hills Jamie had met Monty and by the time they arrived there Jack was already awaiting them. The two boys ran to the spirit who was balancing on the top of his shepherd's crook and laughed in excitement as they noticed the huge pile of snowballs next to him. Those were enough for a snowball fight which would last hours!

Soon later the rest of their gang arrived and Jack didn't waste another second to officially start the battle by throwing the first snowballs at the kids.

Cheerful laughter ensued as everyone followed his lead and tried to hit as many of the others as possible. Snowballs were flying in every direction and even the Guardian of Fun couldn't dodge them a few times, resulting in the group of children cheering in triumph each time. He casually brushed the snow off his hoodie, grinned at them devilishly and just when noone expected it he swung his staff and their visions were clouded by snowballs landing straight in their faces. Laughing filled the chilly air once more and the fight continued.

Shortly after midday they, with the exception of Jack, were exhausted from hours of running around and dropped to the snowy ground panting and holding their grumbling stomachs. Fortunately Cupcake had been foresightful and had brought a picknick-basket full of sandwiches and muffins with her. With a firm slap on the hand she shooed Caleb away, who had been the first to try grabbing one of the muffins, one that looked different from all the others.

"Ouch, what was that for?!" he complained grumpily as he rubbed his burning hand.

"Not _that_ one! That's for Jack!" she retorted and reached for the baked good.

With a faint blush she held the muffin out to the winter spirit. Unlike the others which were brown and obviously chocolate-flavoured this one was much made of a much brighter dough and had white frosting covering it with a sugar snowflake on top.

"Apple cinnamon, thought you might like it." the chubby girl said shyly, which was quite uncommon for her.

Caleb would have made a snarky comment about it, but he didn't feel ready for yet another slap.

"Thanks." Jack smiled and grabbed the muffin, immediately taking a bite of it. "Oh wow, tastes great, did you bake it yourself?"

Cupcake nodded sheepishly. Boy, it was so surreal for the rest of the children to see the former bully so quiet and modest..

"Well, you surely have a talent for it." the white-haired teen stated and took another bite of the delicious sweet snack.

The suppressed snicker and whispers behind her caught her attention and she shot her friends a death glare which clearly said _'If you want something to eat as well then you better shut up right now'._

After lunch everyone pulled their sleighs up to one of the hills and squealed in joy as they dashed back down the snowy slopes. Jack had created ice paths so they could gain more speed than usual and kept a watchful eye over the group so noone would get hurt. Climbing back up the hill with the sleigh in tow each time turned out to be quite strenuous for the kids so Jack supported them as much as he could and flew them up there all the way alternately. Of course only one at a time since he couldn't carry more than one child and their sleigh at once.

In the afternoon they built snow sculptures, because the Guardian of Fun was of the opinion that simple snowmen were too boring. With Jack's help the children managed to create a life-sized snow bear, a wolf and a unicorn ( which had been Cupcake's idea of course ). The girl dressed in pink squealed in delight as he formed an icicle and put it on the animal's forehead, admiring the translucent ice horn which sparkled in the sunlight.

When it was slowly starting to get dark everyone bid their goodbyes and headed to their homes. They didn't want the fun to end but they were tired after a whole day of frolicking and their parents would freak out if they weren't back in time.

Jamie stayed with Jack until the others had left, not ready to part from his best friend yet. He looked at him with big hopeful eyes.

"Can we do this again tomorrow?"

"Uhm…I fear not..." the young guardian answered reluctantly.

"Why not?" Jamie asked, dissappointment written all over his features

"Sorry to ruin the mood, kiddo, but this snow will melt tomorrow, it was only a little pretaste of winter especially for you. You'll gotta wait another month until my season officially starts."

"Oh…okay, I understand." the boy replied until he realized what he had just been told. "Wait a moment, you did this all for me?"

Jack chuckled at the wide-eyed look of the dumbfounded child in front of him and nodded with a bright smile on his face. The next moment he was almost swept off his feet when the 10-year-old glomped him around his midriff.

"Woa, you're the coolest friend _ever_!"

"Hehe, I do what I can." the frost teen tried to sound nonchalant and patted the boy's back.

"It's late, I'll walk you home before your Mom worries about you."

Jamie let go of the lean spirit and glanced at him questioningly.

"Walk?"

"Yeah, I'd offer to fly you home but it's still too bright, a flying boy on a sleigh might attract people's attention." he winked.

As amusing as that option was, it would raise a lot of unecessary questions and he didn't want Jamie to get in trouble. Noone would believe the boy if he explained that Jack Frost had been giving him a ride on the wind.

"Haha, yes, that makes sense." the brunette child admitted and grabbed the rope of his sleigh, dragging it behind him as he and Jack left their snowy playground.

* * *

They arrived at the Bennett's house soon later, the sun had set barely 5 minutes ago so Jamie was hoping his Mom wouldn't make such a big deal of it. He hugged the winter teen goodbye and waved at him one last time before entering his lighted warm home.

Jack waved back and waited until the boy had dissappeared inside and closed the door behind him. He could hear muffled excited yells of _"This was the best day ever!" _and_ "You should have seen it!". _With a content expression and thruthful smile he walked a few steps away from the porch but just as he wanted to take off he heard a shrieking sound coming from the living room. It sounded like a child starting to cry hysterically. As usual his curiousity, and this time worry as well, got the better of him and he rushed to the closest window to peek in and hopefully find out what was going on.

Mrs. Bennett was sitting on the couch with Sophie lying next to her, crying in that dramatic way only small children seemed to be able to accomplish.

"Shhh, calm down honey, throwing a tantrum won't get you anywhere." she muttered annoyed, obviously having run out of patience during the course of the day.

"Jamie, can you please take your sister to her room, I think I'm developing a headache. She hasn't exactly been cooperative today."

"Sure thing, Mom." Jamie said, though not overly excited. "Hey Soph, you wanna play with your plush toys? Or your doll castle?"

The blonde toddler didn't even bother looking up and shook her head which was still pressed against the fabric of the couch, letting out indefinable sounds while doing so.

"Come on, it'll be fun."

"Sleigh is fun!" the stubborn girl whined.

Mrs. Bennett had enough and sighed heavily.

"Alright, young lady, either you follow your brother to your room now or you won't get supper tonight, is that clear?"

The threat had the desired effect and the small child sniveled one more time before finally lifting her head and climbing off the couch.

Watching the scene from the outside Jack couldn't help but feel pity for her when he saw her reddened eyes and cheeks with tears still running down on them. While the two siblings were walking upstairs the winter spirit headed for the window of Sophie's room. He had to find out what this was all about.

Of course he had been faster than the kids but he only had to wait a few moments until the door opened and they stepped in. Through the glass he saw the 3-year-old dropping onto the carpet defeatedly, having no strenght for more crying. By now Jamie was feeling sorry for his little sister as well and knelt down next to her.

"Awww, Soph, don't be like that. We can play whatever you want now. What do you wanna do?" he offered and smiled at her encouragingly, but got no reaction whatsoever.

The boy sighed, he was at a total loss at what to do. Jack had enough. A sudden knocking on glass caught both children's attention and before Jamie could react Sophie had squealed in joy, run to the windowsill, climbed on it and opened the window to let the frost teen inside. The moment his feet had touched the floor the green-eyed toddler jumped at him, taking advantage of her elevated position on the windowsill, and thrown her tiny arms around his neck. Jack was completely taken by surprise and took a second to gain back his composure.

"Nice to see you, too." he laughed and hugged her with one arm.

Only when he had sat down on the carpet Indian style did Sophie finally let go of him, but showed no intention of leaving his side and rested herself on his lap instead. Jamie observed her dramatic change in behaviour and chuckled as he sat right across from the older boy.

"You know, she's so crazy about you that sometimes I really wonder if she thinks you're made of sugar or something."

"Haha, she just knows that I have connections to the Easter Bunny." Jack winked humbly.

"Nah, she really worships the ground you walk on. Like Cupcake…and Pippa…gheez, all girls seem to adore you." Jamie stated matter-of-factly and almost fell over from laughter when he noticed the embarassed look on the guardian's face and his cheeks blushing purple.

As if to proove this point Sophie grabbed his right arm and clung to it like it was a new toy she had just discovered.

"See?" the Bennett boy exclaimed still laughing and brushed a tear from his eyes.

Jack had no idea why they seemed to like him so much but if Jamie thought this was a reason to ridicule him then he wouldn't show any weakness. So he'd just play along

"Yeah, haha, very funny. You're just jealous I'm a lady magnet." he retorted.

"Totally." the brunette child shot back unimpressed, sarcasm dripping all over his reply.

"So…" Jack cleared his throat, wanting nothing more than to change this awkward topic.

"What has all that drama been about?"

"Huh?"

"I heard Sophie crying like mad, so what's the matter?"

"Oh…well, actually, it's because of you."

Sapphire blue eyes widened and looked at the young believer in shock.

"Me? What did I do?"

Jamie sighed and crossed his arms, glaring at his little sister who was still cuddled against the winter spirit, totally not minding the coldness erupting from his body.

"It's not your fault, but she really wanted to join us today. I guess I swooned too much about sleigh rides and she was frustrated that Mom didn't allow it because she's still too young."

"Sleigh, sleigh, sleigh!" the small girl shouted in glee before her face fell and she leaned her head against Jack's chest.

"Mean Mommy…" she muttered grumpily.

Simply by looking at the white-haired teen Jamie could hear the gears in his mind turning.

"Hhm…."

"Jack?"

"Do _you_ think she's too young for sleigh rides?" he asked all of a sudden.

Two pairs of eyes were looking in his direction and the boy couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable about the situation.

"Uhm…well…she can't do it alone but…if I'm sitting on a sleigh with her I guess it should be…alright."

"Yay, sleigh, sleig, sleigh!" the little girl threw up her arms in happiness and almost hit the Guardian of Fun in the process.

"Oh woa, don't crow too soon, Jack hasn't said anything about going on sleigh rides yet."

The winter spirit grinned at them with his famous crooked smile.

"Right…not _yet_."

Sophie stared at him as hopeful as a little child could be while Jamie wasn't sure if he should be excited or worried about the mischievous expression on his best friend's face.

"Wait, does that mean-"

"Yep, we'll have a nightly sleigh ride, just the three of us. I'll pick you up right after your mother put you to bed."

* * *

**A/N : Little anecdote at the end. Last week the very Southern part of Germany was blessed with sudden snow, more than in the last 200 years! Schools were closed, children were happy and adults were like "Where the hell did all that snow come from?"  
On TV they interviewed a family who had traveled all the way from another city just to have the first snowball fight of the year. So adorable!**

**And now I curse myself for moving to the North of Germany. XP**


	24. Snow Days & Fun Times 2

**A/N : Purplefern : I just love how Jack interacts with them! And that's coming from someone who usually dislikes children a lot. But kids in movies are always cuter than those in real life. XD**

**Hanyoualchemist1 : Oh, Canada, how cool! I'd love to travel there if the flights weren't so expensive. Just like New Zealand, the Caribbean, USA, etc. Being a poor artist sucks. *lol***

**AngetianPrincess18 : It would be even nicer of him to give _North_ Germany some snow. *hint hint***

* * *

They spent a while convincing Sophie that she had to keep quiet and not run through the house laughing and cheering in excitement just like she had done in her room. When their mother called them for dinner Jack left, after explaining once more to the little girl that she had to act normal or else their secret plan would be ruined and she would have to stay at home. That did the trick and during dinner Jamie was dumbfounded what good of an actor his younger sibling could be. Even if she had showed her happiness he doubted that their mother would have gotten suspiscious. Mrs. Bennett was just relieved that the anger tantrum of her daughter was over. She was too tired from dealing with a grumpy toddler to notice her children glancing at the clock on the wall every few minutes. Jamie had never thought that for once he couldn't wait until it was finally bedtime. Sophie seemed to be having a harder time being patient but whenever she seemed close to blurting out something that might reveal their intentions he quickly sent her a stern look and put his finger on his lips, signaling her to shut up. Suprisingly enough, it actually worked.

Several hours later the excruciating waiting came to and end. When she brought her kids to bed was grateful for their cooperation and that she didn't have to argue about whether they would be allowed to stay up for 5 more minutes or not. As soon as she closed the door behind her a sigh of relief was let out on both sides. The exhausted woman was glad she could finally have a good night's rest and Jamie was happy that everything went according to plan so far. Without further hesitation he jumped out of bed, sneaked to the wardrobe and put on his jacket and his winter boots which he had smuggled into his room earlier this evening. After a second thought he also pulled a scarf and gloves from his drawer and sat down on the windowsill, keeping his eyes open for Jack Frost.

It didn't take long until he saw a familiar white-haired figure dressed in blue and brown appearing in the distance and quickly coming closer. Jamie beamed as if he hadn't seen his best friend for a whole month.

"Hey Jack!" he greeted a little too loud and immediately put his hand on his mouth, hoping that his mother hadn't heard it and continued whispering. "You're punctual to the minute, Mom doesn't suspect a thing so can we go now?"

The winter spirit chuckled at the boy's eagerness and floated right in front of the opened window, his back turned at him.

"What are you waiting for then, jump on!" he winked with an equally excited grin on his face.

Jamie didn't have to be told twice and climbed on the guardian's back, putting his arms firmly around his neck. Together they flew to the next window where Sophie was already waiting and waving at them.

"Your private taxi is here to pick you up, my lady." Jack smiled as he landed on the windowsill and formally bowed down.

The little girl giggled in delight but was immediately hushed by the two males who simultaneously put their index finger on their mouth.

"Sshhh, you gotta be quiet or Mom will hear you." Jamie explained in a whisper.

Sophie covered her own mouth with her hands and vigorously nodded her head in understanding. Upon mustering her appearance Jack raised an eyebrow at her current choice of clothes. She was still only wearing her pyjamas.

"Uhm, I think you should put on something warmer, it's pretty cold outside."

Big green eyes stared at him for a moment before the toddler ran to her wardrobe, rummaged through the opened drawer and eventually put on a…t-shirt over her long-sleeved pyjama top. Jamie mentally facepalmed and rolled his eyes while Jack found it pretty amusing.

"Getting there, but it's really REALLY cold, you'll need something else."

Pondering his words the young girl grabbed a thick woolen pink jersey and pulled it over her other shirts. Only when she saw the purple summer jacket in the mess of clothes in the drawer it dawned on her that it might be appropriate as well. It was made of thin fabric but her winter coat was hanging in the corridor downstairs. As well as her boots…so she just grabbed the first alternative she found in her room, which happened to be a pair of sneakers. After Jack pointed it out she slipped into a pair of woolen socks first and also took her blue scarf and gloves with her.

"That should do." he smiled approvingly when the little girl stood in front of him and spun around to show off her final outfit.

By the time she was finally ready Jamie had almost dropped off to sleep on Jack's back.

"Hey buddy, shall I bring you to bed again?" the frost teen smirked.

His first believer suddenly was wide-awake.

"Heck, no!" he exclaimed and rubbed his eyes. "Is she finally done?"

The brunette boy glanced at his younger sibling who held her arms out to the Guardian of Fun.

"Go go go!"

"I think that means 'yes'." Jack winked and bent down to pick the small child up.

It took a moment to place her in his arms in a way he could still carry his shepherd's crook as well but soon later the trio was flying through the chilly night, only the moon and a clear dark blue sky full of sparkling stars observing what they were up to.

Little Sophie wasn't used to flying, the first time the winter spirit had carried her home she had been fast asleep, and she hadn't made up her mind yet whether she should be excited or scared. Both emotions balanced each other as she gazed at her surroundings and the snowy town under her, eyes wide with wonder, while holding on to Jack's hoodie in a death grip.

"Oh, wait, we forgot my sleigh!" Jamie suddenly blurted out when they were halfway at their destination already.

Not that Jack would have been able carry anything else right now but he felt the need to point it out nevertheless. After all, no sleigh meant no sleigh ride and their nightly escape would be pretty aimless.

"Don't worry, I already brought it there before I picked you two up."

The brown-eyed boy raised an eyebrow at his friend's reply.

"You broke into our garage?"

"'_Break into'_ is such a negative word…it wasn't locked anyway." Jack replied nonchalantly.

A quiet chuckle escaped Jamie's mouth as he imagined his mother checking where the noise Jack might have caused came from and seeing his sleigh float out of the garage on its own. Would have been quite the sight to see her reaction.

"There we are!" the frost teen announced and landed gracefully between the hills where the children and him had spent the day.

Kneeling down he let the Bennett siblings climb off him and smiled in contentment as he stood back up and watched Sophie run around laughing and cheering, joy radiating from every inch of her tiny frame. Jamie couldn't help but grin at his ridiculously happy sister who threw herself onto the soft white ground and made a snow angel.

Despite the lack of sunlight the reflection of the full moon shining down on the snow made it easy and bright enough to see well in the cold night. His eyes darted over the scenery and landed on his sleigh patiently waiting a few feet away from them. But as he walked towards it something else caught his attention. Earlier today when he and his friends were riding on their sleighs Jack had created simple straight ice pathways which only reached from the top of the hills down to the bottom. But now there were several intricate paths with many curves, covering the largest hill and reaching all they way down to continue on the even ground. It looked kind of like a car track made of ice. And made the boy's heart beat in excitement.

"You ready?"

Jamie gave a shout of surprise. He was so absorbed in the sight in front of him that he hadn't noticed Jack suddenly standing beside him.

"You bet!" he grinned from ear to ear.


	25. Snow Days & Fun Times 3

**A/N : **

** NoraFrost : Wow, so many comments, thanks for those! **

**Uh, I don't remember ever calling it a "stick", just "staff" or "shepherd's crook" because that's what it is. So calm down?**

**Interesting that sahara actually means desert in Egyptian, bust just so you know, not everyone who speaks / writes English is American, I'm from Germany. ;)**

**Well, I didn't get snow because I live in the wrong part of the country, the South is more likely to get snow but here in the North it's mainly rainy weather. *grumbles***

**"Pregnant silence" is the silence before something important, meaningful or unpleasant is going to be said and when everyone knows that's gonna happen.**

**I promise to keep writing, no worries! ^^**

** 1captain obvious : Glad you liked the Selfish-arc! More angst coming soon ( not yet, but soooon ). **

** Saiyan Princess : Thanks and you're welcome!**

** mandamichelle : Nice to hear! And don't worry, I'll leave the bad events to the next arc. *rubs hands together***

* * *

Sophie had the time of her life.

Ever since her brother had told her about his freak sledding accident and how awesome it was despite the painful ending she had longed to try riding a sleigh herself. She wasn't eager to lose a tooth in the process but if it was really worth it she could deal with that sacrifice. After she had been introduced to Jack Frost and Jamie kept swooning about how much fun it was to play with him the little girl's desire grew to almost unbearable heights.

All the more happy she was now that her dream finally came true and she sled down the icy tracks with her brother, who was sitting behind her, as well as the Spirit of Winter making sure she was safe. Whoops of joy echoed through the otherwise peaceful night as the sleigh dashed through loops and curves and seemed to get faster with every round. Jamie steered it expertly for the majort part, after all he had quite some experience with it. And yet he got dangerously close to losing control a few times but Jack quickly stepped in and took control of the sleigh, guiding it back on track and slowing down the speed. Never did he leave the children's side.

An hour had passed but to them it felt only like 10 minutes. Sophie was still as excited as she had been the moment they had arrived in the winter wonderland. According to her they could have continued with the sleigh rides all night long.

"Does she ever get tired?" Jack asked his young friend as they were climbing back up the hill, while the little girl ran way ahead of them and giggled as if she was on a sugar rush.

"Rarely."

"For someone so small she's really got an incredible amount of energy." the white haired teen stated, admiration faintly shining through his voice.

"Yeah, I have no idea where she takes it from." Jamie shrugged.

It wasn't lost on Jack that the boy fell behind a bit, apparently not possessing endless amounts of energy like his sister, and seemed to have increasing difficulties pulling the sleigh. Not that it was too heavy, but after a busy day like this, no matter how much fun it had been, he was exhausted. Without thinking about it twice the guardian flew to his friend and lifted him up in the air while dragging the sleigh behind them as he floated mere feet over the ground.

"Thanks, Jack." the brunette boy said and failed to suppress a yawn.

"No problem, kiddo. Getting a little tired maybe?"

"Nah, not at all."

Jamie was a terrible liar. In truth, the idea of his warm comfy bed seemed very alluring right now, but then again he didn't want the fun to end. And above all, he didn't want to say goodbye to Jack just yet. On their flight to the hills the immortal spirit had told him that he wouldn't be able to visit for a week or two because he had to spread winter in other parts of the world. No way Jamie would break this off just because he felt a little…okay, _very _dozy.

During the following sleigh rounds Jack had to take control of the wooden vehicle far more often as his first believer's drowsiness didn't cope well with his motor and reaction skills. After the two siblings had almost derailed from the ice track and he could prevent another freak sledding accident in the last moment the Guardian of Fun decided that they should better call it a night.

This however didn't meet the approval of Sophie Bennett.

"Sleigh sleigh sleigh! Again!"

"We've been sledding for over one and a half hours straight, aren't you tired at all?!" Jamie groaned.

The blonde girl stared at him for a moment, wondering if that dumb question was worth a reply and then shook her head vividly exclaiming _"Sleigh! Again."_ once more.

"It's late, you two should have been in bed long ago already. Don't forget this was an exception I made just for you, alright?" Jack explained in firm but gentle voice.

If it had been up to him he could have played with the kids until morning but unlike him the two needed to sleep and especially Jamie was battling the urge to simply doze off on his sleigh. Convincing Sophie of this was a whole different story, though. The stubborn child showed no sign of fatigue and was eager to continue for hours on end. Being strict with children wasn't exactly his strenght so Jack pondered on how to deal with the situation.

"Okay, listen." he eventually said and curious green eyes where focused on him.

"One more ride and then I'll bring you back home. And if you are nice and don't make a fuss then I promise we'll do this again. Not saying when that will be, but this now won't be the last time. Deal?"

He knelt down and patiently waited as the 3-year-old thought about the offer for a few seconds and then held out her tiny finger towards him.

"Pinky swear?"

Jack smiled and locked his cold finger around hers.

"Pinky swear."

When he turned around to Jamie the boy had fallen asleep on his sleigh. The position looked far from being comfortable but he didn't seem to mind. There was no way the frost teen would have the heart to wake him up and take his makeshift 'bed' away from him. He rubbed the back of his neck deep in thought and suddenly had an enlightenment.

Sophie watched in awe as the winter spirit swirled his staff and created a big block of ice, which soon was molded into the shape of a simple sleigh. He could have made it more detailed but he didn't want to waste anymore time.

With the ice sleigh in tow he flew the little girl up the hill one last time. Realizing that he couldn't let her steer it on her own since she was much too young and inexperienced for it he decided to take Jamie's place. Young Sophie was already sitting on the sleigh and giggling in gleeful anticipation. The Guardian of Fun sat down behind her and lay his staff aside because he would need both hands to direct the sleigh manually.

With a powerful thrust of his leg, a little _too_ powerful it would soon turn out, he pushed the icy vehicle into motion and sent them down the hill at breakneck speed. Damnit, keeping control of this thing was harder than he had imagined! Maybe it was the wrong time to realize he had never ever ridden a sleigh himself before. Maybe it had also been a bad idea to leave his staff behind. And maybe he should better focus on the ice track instead of cursing his own recklessness. Fortunately his reflexes were quick as usual and he managed to get a hang of sledding pretty quickly.

Until they approached the sharpest bend of the icy track and Sophie suddenly threw her arms up in joy, accidentally hitting him square in the face. In a heartbeat he lost control of the sleigh right when they were heading into the bend. It left the track which resulted in both occupants flying through the air as well. Jack only had milliseconds to react. The impending impact on the ground would cause the ice sleigh to shatter into pieces. A single panicked thought ran through his mind, namely that he couldn't allow Sophie to get hurt.

He grabbed the little girl and pressed her against his chest, protected her head with his hands and turned around in mid-air so he would land on his back. The snow thankfully cushioned the fall but he was sent rolling across the ground nevertheless. The moment he looked up the sleigh crashed mere feet away from them and the frost teen instantly hugged the child closer, shielding her tiny frame with his body as clumps of broken ice hailed down around them.

All of this had happened in mere moments, but to Jack it had felt like slow-motion and he guessed that this was what being close to a heart-attack must be like. The Bennett kids meant the world to him, as a guardian he was supposed to protect children and not endanger them. If they were hurt during his custody he would have never forgiven himself. And he really didn't want to further think about it.

"Sophie, you alright?" he whispered to the blonde toddler who still had her face buried in his chest.

His worry blazed up for a second before green eyes beamed at him and amused giggling took a load off his mind.

"Again!"

Jack snorted and shook his head in disbelief as he sat up on his knees. With gentle hands he brushed the snow out of the girl's hair and off her clothes.

"Sorry, kid, we had a deal. Time to bring you home."

Sophie wasn't happy about it but realized there was no use in arguing with the Spirit of Winter anymore. A small yawn escaped her mouth as she nodded her head in approval and rubbed her tired eyes. Jack smiled at the little child and got up, taking her by the hand to where Jamie was still sleeping on his sleigh.

"You wait here, I just gotta go pick up my staff, okay?" he said and quickly ran up the hill where the ancient conduit of his power was still waiting for him.

When he came back the youngest Bennett was continuously poking her brother's ribs with her index finger. If it was to wake him up or out of sheer boredom he had no idea. Jamie must have had a very sound sleep because he didn't seem to notice they annoyance at all.

Jack bent down to the sleeping boy and put a cold hand on his shoulder, shaking it softly but still strong enough so he would take notice of it.

"Jamie? I'll take you home now, but you gotta cooperate." he smiled as drowsy brown eyes looked at him through half-closed lids.

All he got as reply was a loud yawn and right after his first believer had climbed on his back and put his arms around his neck had he already fallen asleep again. The white haired teen lifted Sophie up into his arms and glanced at the wooden sleigh. He would bring it back later.

Jamie didn't witness anything that happened afterwards since he was peacefully slumbering on the Guardian of Fun's back. Jack had made Sophie promise him that the last event of the night would stay a secret between the two of them. But he already dreaded the moment one of the fairies would find the tooth with that memory. Tooth's upcoming speech about responsibility wasn't something he was eager to experience.

But no matter how bad it could have ended, he had to chuckle as he remembered the 3-year-old's reaction right after their crash. She seemed to be insanely happy that she had experienced her own freak sledding accident.

When they arrived at the Bennett's house Jack flew to Sophie's window first, telling her to get ready for bed and that he would say goodnight after he had taken her brother to his room.

Soon after he flew through another open window with a cool gust of wind and gently dropped the sleeping boy off of his back and onto his bed. Golden swirls of dreamsand appeared next to him and floated over the child's head where they turned into small versions of the three of them laughing and playing in the snow. The smile on Jack's face widened at the sight.

Carefully as not to interrupt Jamie's pleasant dreams he pulled off his boots, jacket, scarf and gloves and tucked the sleeping child up in the soft warm covers of his bed. Before he left he looked at his first believer and the dreamsand images above him once more.

"Goodnight Jamie. Please never grow up…" he whispered barely audible.

One moment later he peeked through Sophie's window. Silence. He didn't trust it. But he was prooved wrong when he entered the room and saw the little toddler lying in bed wearing only her pyjamas while the rest of her previously worn clothes were stuffed back into the drawer. Her head sunk into the fluffy pink pillow and she seemed to be more asleep than awake by now. Jack approached her and knelt down next to the bed.

"Sleep well, Sophie. And don't worry, we'll have a lot more sleigh rides in the future." he said quietly and just as he wanted to leave a tiny hand grabbed his cold fingers.

"You're a cool brother…" the girl muttered before golden swirls reached her as well and she was sleeping in no time.

For a while Jack just stared at the sand images forming over her head. She was having the same dream as her older brother. Even though it seemed impossible for a winter spirit he felt a warm sensation engulfing his heart. After 300 years of being invisble it was still foreign to him that there were children who could actually see him now. And even better, children who were seriously fond of him. That Jamie and Sophie saw him as their older brother made him happier than he would have ever dared to hope. As weird as it might have sounded but he considered the Bennett kids, just like the guardians, as his family. Not related by blood of course, but he couldn't care less.

Jack gently stroked the sleeping child's hair for a moment, faintly wondering if he had ever patted his own sister's head like this. He sighed and eventually stood up. When he reached the window he exhaled deeply and let the wind carry him away. Soon he would come back and he already had plans for more fun and laughter. After all, he would do anything for his younger siblings.

Though he really hoped there wouldn't be any unexpected accidents again.


	26. Lessons Learned 1

**A/N : Omg, over 100 reviews by now! I know there are a lot of RotG-stories here which have far more but for me that's amazing, never got so many comments for anything I uploaded here. **

**So, I gotta apologize in advance for this upcoming arc. It was supposed to be a oneshot ( again ) but I kept writing and writing and it just didn't end ( again ). It will be quite intense but you'll also get a lot of family-fluff / comfort / bromance, etc. Ye be warned. :P**

** inabox : Glad you liked it that much! **

** Guest : *whistles innocently* **

** Nora Frost : Uh, I doubt "Despicable Me 2" has a copyright to that phrase. Don't remember it was said in that movie, but I've only watched it once and that was in German.**

** CatGirl1995 : Hhm, I'll definitely keep that idea in mind for future oneshots. **

** SaiyanPrincess : Jack totally is the best big brother anyone could wish for.**

** Wolfrunner99-2 : No kidding, hehe. And I will!**

** Hanyoualchemist1 : I fear I'll hurt your feely feels even more with this current chapter. Please forgive me in advance! *is so jealous about the snow***

** Oluhasuu : Stay strong!**

** lemonCocolate : Yeah, now and then I have to write something funny to make up for all the angst. But I'm still oddly attracted to dramatic stories. ^^"**

* * *

_*Set right after „Snow Days & Fun Times"*_

Jack was on his way to the North Pole, after a whole day and night of playing with the children he had an urging appetite for chocolate milk and the elves' special sugar cookies. He had barely left Burgess when he suddenly had a bad feeling of paranoia, like he was being followed. After he glanced back and around himself and couldn't make out anything unusual he tried to shake it off, but he couldn't get rid of the nagging anxiety deep in his stomach. As he continued flying the scenery below him got increasingly greener. He had only blessed his home town and the contiguous areas with snowfall.

And then an abrupt gust of wind, which was surely not _his_ wind, took a hold of him and sent him crashing towards the ground. Jack yelped in shock and tried to battle the force engulfing him, but to no avail. All he could do was slow the fall down a bit before he was slammed against the hard soil of a field where only a few scarce piles of snow were left. Even while shouting in pain as is body made contact with the unforgiving ground he still kept a death grip on his shepherd's crook. Brown withered leaves danced around him eerily and he didn't have to ponder twice who could be responsible for his less than graceful landing. Back on shaky legs he stared at the brown-clad figure who was approaching him at fast speed. His grip on his staff intensified as the familiar and dreaded red-head touched down right in front of him. The Spirit of Autumn.

"Frost." he snarled in a despising tone.

"Harvest." Jack retorted bluntly.

He was no idiot. Of course he had known about the risks of his early snow day. That the autumn spirit wouldn't be happy about it was no surprise, but he had the faint hope that he wouldn't notice. After all it was just a tiny area on the globe which got a foretaste of winter.

Well, so much for that.

"So, what gives me the displeasure of your _nice_ way to say _'hello'_`?"

"Ye think I wouldn't notice teh lil' stunt ye pulled? Snowfall in this area in teh middle of autumn?!"

The taller spirit was obviously not in the mood for jokes and Jack did his best not to show how nervous he was getting. From past experiences he knew damn well what the Irishman was capable of and he didn't look forward to what might happen next. And yet a question burned on his tongue.

"How the hell did you find out anyway, I thought you were busy in Europe?"

A shiver ran down his spine as a disturbing smile appeared on Flann's face.

"Friend o' mine told me."

He glanced at the earthy ground next to him and for a moment Jack wondered if he had missed something. Suddenly the patch of earth seemed to move and a dark shape ascended from it. Jack swallowed as he stood eye to eye to the creepy creature who seemed to be around 6'5" tall. He was dressed in a black sleeveless cloak, wearing an orange shirt with wide long sleeves and boots in the same colour underneath. A chain of small skulls served as the replacement of a belt and instead of human hands he had skeletton hands. A head-shaped pumpkin sat on his neck, with eerie yellow light shining out of his eyes, nose and mouth. Overall, he didn't look like someone you would want to meet in the middle of the night.

"Sam Hain…" Jack breathed out with a slightly trembling voice.

"Oh, you remember me, what an honour." the Spirit of Halloween remarked cynically.

"Did you really think I'd tolerate you spreading snowfall barely one week before _my _holiday?"

The words came out in a menacing hiss, the malice in them going hand in hand with his appearance. Jack had never been one to show fear or weakness in front of others, especially not enemies, but right now he had great difficulty at staying calm. His pale knuckles turned white as he grabbed his staff, his only source of comfort, with all his might.

"Well, at least I hoped so…"

He was screwed anyway, so he decided he could be honest. Nothing to lose, right?

"Listen, I didn't do it to piss you off, believe it or not. There's this kid, my first believer, and he really longed for snow so I gave his town a little pretaste of winter. It'll melt in the next few days again and by Halloween there won't be any evidence there has ever been snowfall. So can't we just let the matter drop and you guys continue spreading…whatever you spread?"

The try of an excuse and hopeful smile prooved to be as fruitful as planting a palmtree in the middle of the North Pole. The glares of the two spirits just turned even colder as they attempted to burn a hole into his soul.

"Oh well…I don't believe you.". Sam replied unfazed.

"Ye claimed ta just do it for teh kids far too often for me likin', always teh same old story." Flann added.

"It may be an old story but it's the truth." Jack retorted, his nervosity slowly changing to plain annoyance.

He was sick of having to justify himself.

"Whatever ye say...by teh way, I guess I probably should congratulate ye for yer new job as a guardian."

The frost teen raised a suspicious eyebrow at the taller man.

"You...congratulate me?"

"I said I probably _should_, didn't say I _would_. _You_ becoming a guardian, that must be teh joke of teh century. Is killing humans by hypothermia a requirement to get this title now?" the autumn spirit shot back with venom dripping from his voice.

Sam Hain nodded his pumpkin head at his fellow's statement and crossed his arms while staring Jack down.

"It's a temerity that you, the youngest one of us spirits and the one known as troublemaker par excellence was chosen by the Man in the Moon. And now you already prove again why you don't deserve that honour, messing around with other people's holidays like this."

Jack tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but to no avail. Even with his guardianship, the belief of several children and the approval and love of the other guardians, his self-esteem still was far from being strong, let alone invulnerable. On the contrary, he hated to admit it but already a few harsh words were enough to shatter the wall he had tried to built around his weakness to hide it from everyone else. The insults thrown at him felt like small needles being stabbed into his heart. And yet, he used every bit of self-control to not let show how hurt he was. Giving them satisfaction and a reason for triumph was the last thing he wanted.

"You know, it's sort of flattering that you're jealous of me. But that's your problem, not mine. Man in Moon chose me so either you accept his decision, whether you like it or not, or let your own envy consume you."

Without intending to do so he had only increased the hatred directed at him. What he had said was the truth but the Spirits of Autumn and Halloween weren't exactly know for their tolerance and understanding.

"Ye bloody lil' bugger! I think we gotta teach ye a lesson once and for all!"

The young guardian got into a defensive position and aimed his staff at his adversaries.

"Two against one? So you can't even play fair, can you?"

"As far as I have heard your battle against the boogeyman wasn't equally balanced either. Five against one, how was _that_ fair?" Sam interjected.

"The hell...are you seriously siding with Pitch now?!" Jack blurted out in clear dissapproval.

"Just so you know, _he_ started a war against the guardians _and_ threatened all children of the world _and_ he had a whole _army_ of nightmares. So I doubt he had any disadvantage."

Again he was justifying himself and he absolutely hated it. But he couldn't just shrug off an accusation like this.

"I don't feel like discussing this matter with you right now, Frost. What matters is that you dared to mess up my Halloween preparations, as well as interfered in Flann's season. We can't let you get away with it."

Sam addressed him like someone would do to a small child. Like he couldn't comprehend the situation at hand very well. Needless to say, Jack felt a little insulted. But before he had the chance to vent his displeasure a wave of razor-sharp leaves was sent in his direction. In the last second he managed to freeze them and they dropped to the ground where they shattered into tiny pieces. A strong gust of wind swepted him off his feet, making him tumble several steps back until he gathered enough strenght to combat it. Ice power shot out of his staff and towards his enemy but the Spirit of Autumn was equipped with equally quick reflexes and dodged the attack easily.

Jack was too absorbed into the fight against Flann that he didn't notice his second opponent dissappearing. Only when he sensed a sudden source of heat coming closer at disturbingly fast speed did he turn around and the last thing he caught a glimpse of was a fiery pumpkin. Cries of pain escaped his throat as it smashed against his back, broke there and burned parts of his hoodie and the skin underneath. The impact forced the assaulted winter spirit to drop to the ground, his fingers digging into the earth as he panted and cowered there on all fours. He told himself to get up, the fight wasn't over yet, but his limbs trembled under him and he was fairly busy with not falling flat on his face. Just when he thought the pain couldn't get worse something hard pushed onto his wounded back. A heart-breaking scream echoed through the cold night as the force violently pressed his body against the earthy soil. It took him several moments to catch his breath again. The weight still apparent on his back didn't make this achievement any easier to accomplish. Snickering was to be heard from above him and he turned his head around as much as he was able to. Sam Hain towered above him with one of his booted feet firmly placed on the young spirit's back. The pumpkin-head loved his triumph and didn't waste the opportunity to rub it under Jack's nose.

"See, that's where you belong, stuck in the mud."

The guardian clenched his teeth, if it was because of the stinging sensation of his burnt skin or the damage to his dignity he wasn't sure, probably both. He wouldn't give up now, he had to get back up, he had to fight. With a great amount of energy he swung his staff at his opponent who had to let go of him in order to avoid the attack. But before he could stand up thick green roots shot out of the field, wrapped themselves around his ankles and wrists and forced him to fall on his stomach again. Panic rose up in him as he tried to freeze them but they showed no sign of being affected by his powers. On the contrary, the more he strained the tighter they got, feeling like they would cut into his skin. And again that nasty foot stepped onto his back. This time Jack didn't allow them the satisfaction to hear him cry out, but it took everything he had to bite back a scream.

"Teh lil' bastard almost got ye there, didn't he?" Flann remarked as he stood in front of the fallen winter spirit with his hands on his hips, amusement written all over his freckled face.

Sam glared at his fellow and then at the boy lying underneath him.

"As you see I had everything under control. Now if you don't mind, take that stick away from him before he'll do it again."

Alarm bells started ringing in Jack's head and he grabbed his staff as tight as he could, trying in vain to rip his hands from the iron grip of the vines. The Irishman bent down to him and watched him struggle with a mocking grin on his face.

"Give up, Frost, ye already lost." he sneered.

Jack didn't reply but narrowed his eyes and clenched his teeth like a cornered animal. The red-haired man took a hold of the magical staff and pulled, but the guardian mustered all his remaining strenght and refused to let go. A quick look was exchanged between the two older spirits and after a small nod on both sides Jack's world was consumed by sheer agony. Sam had lifted his foot only to kick him with full force while Flann simultaneously trampled on his hand, the one which was holding onto the staff. If he had been human instead of immortal the force of the impact probably would have broken his spine in half. The teen failed to suppress the scream forcing it's way out of his lungs and hid his face in the dirty ground, not wanting them to see the tears of pain flowing out of his eyes. When he came back to his senses he had to realize that his hands were empty. In horror he looked at the Spirit of Autumn who was standing tall and looking down at him, gloating smile on his face and Jack's conduit of power in his hand.

"Ye're really a damn stubborn brat, ye know that? It's yer own fault that ye always need ta learn it teh hard way." he stated while pointing the staff at him.

For a moment Jack's fear and pain was washed away by plain anger. How could that ruthless bastard dare to humiliate him like this, raising his own weapon at him?!

"You better give me back my staff or-"

"Or what? You'll squirm even more like a worm and continue to give us death glares? How intimidating." the pumpkin-head scoffed and crossed his arms, his foot never easing the pressure on the boy's injured back.

Through clenched teeth the young guardian hissed at them, though he was fully aware of the fact that he was far from being any threat for them right now. That didn't stop him however.

"Do you guys have any idea how pathetic you are? If you're so high and mighty why do you waste your time acting like bullies instead of fullfilling your duties? Guess beating the crap out of someone is more fun than simply doing your job, huh? And then you wonder why the Man in the Moon didn't choose you as new guardians."

Flann's eyes widened and and Jack knew he had struck a nerve. But then the dark brown orbs narrowed in fury.

"Shut up!"

In a swift motion the autumn spirit had bent down, grabbed a little rock which was lying on the field and thrown it at the teen who couldn't move, let alone dogde it. Jack saw stars for a moment as the stony missile hit him on the side of his head. He groaned and blinked but his vision kept being blurry. Even while being tied to the ground he felt the world around him spinning.

"I think you are the more pathetic sight right now, kid." Sam Hain remarked nonchalantly.

"True that. And since ye don't wanna listen ye gotta be punished. That's how ye deal with naughty kids, eh? So ye better learn yer lesson and don't mess with our season and holiday 'cause next time we won't be that kind. And ta make it even clearer ta ye..."

Weak blue eyes glanced at the Irish spirit. When he realized what was going to happen Jack wished he hadn't looked up. Flann MacHarvest grabbed his shepherd's crook with both hands and swung it around only to slam it against the ground with all his might. The wood splintered in half and for the second time in less than a year Jack felt like something inside of him was being ripped apart as well. If he screamed out again he didn't know. He also had no idea what happened afterwards. The second his staff was broken darkness engulfed him and dragged him into unconsciousness.

* * *

**A/N : I better go and hide somewhere safe now... **


	27. Lessons Learned 2

**A/N :**

** Night Fury Lover : Uhm...I can honestly say I have no idea what you're talking about. *is confused***

** AinsleyWright : Poor Jack indeed, I feel sorry for him and yet I enjoy writing stuff like this. ^^"**

** Wolfrunner99-2 : *lowers head in shame***

** Cat Girl 1995 : I don't think Jack would be the one to just give in and let people beat him up, he's a fighter!**

** Okami1001 : The bastards will get the scare of their lives but it'll take a few more chapters until that happens.**

** Nora Fost : I hope this chapter won't make you cry as well...although it's a compliment for an author to hear that people get so emotional about it. *offers you tissues in advance***

** inabox : I love it as well! Guess that's the reason why so many people write stories about Jack getting injured, so there can be adorable family fluff lateron. Oh, and trust me, none of the guardians will be very happy about what happened to him. One of them most of all. Hehe.**

** Caithlinn13 : Angst is all we need, haha! **

** SaiyanPrincess : Thank you again ! ^^**

** lemonCocolate : I'm so sorryyyyyyyy. And omg, not the cat ! D8**

* * *

When Jack came back to his senses and his eyes fluttered open weakly the sun was already beginning to rise. Early morning fog hovered over the field, giving the scenery a peaceful yet eerie athmosphere.

The beaten winter spirit groaned as he tried to move his sore body and noticed his ankles and wrists were still bound by the pumpkin roots. To his relief they had lost their powers and weren't stronger than ordinary roots now anymore so it didn't take much effort to pull his limbs out of their grasp. The constant strain had left red marks on his skin but he didn't care, he was happy to finally be free again. Dizziness hit him like a brick wall when he sat up, causing him to tumble backwards but his arms managed to support his weight before he could fall flat on the ground again.

Head lifted towards the sky he watched the grey clouds above him for a while until his senses were clear enough to realize that he was alone. Sam Hain and FlannMacHarvest were no longer around. He let out a relieved sigh and scanned his surroundings wearily.

Sapphire blue eyes landed on two pieces of wood lying a few feet away from him. His broken staff. Standing up took more effort than he wanted to admit and the sudden reappearance of the burning pain in his back made him gasp in shock. On trembling legs he slowly stumbled towards his ancient possession and dropped to his knees as soon as he had reached it. Pale fingers grabbed both halves of the shepherd's crook and held them tight, feeling the connection between himself and the conduit of his power despite the obvious damage. A burdensome thought crossed his mind as he stayed in this position and stared at the item in his hands.

When walking for a few seconds already made him pant in exhaustion, how would he be able to fix his staff? It took quite an amount of energy to merge it back together, he knew from experience.

But he couldn't just sit here and wait for help which would probably never come. His thoughts drifted off towards his room at North's workshop. To be more precise, his soft and comfy bed. Jack wanted nothing more than to sleep for the next days, somewhere safe, where no sinister spirits would harass him. But to get there he needed to fly, and for flying he needed his staff.

With flourishing motivation he sat up straight and pushed the two halves together, focusing his powers on the break line. Only a tiny spark of blue light flared up but it was gone as soon as it had appeared. The frost teen's chest heaved in frustration, he had to do better than this. To gather the remains of strenght left in his battered body he relaxed for several minutes and just continued to breath in and out steadily. As he felt ready for a final attempt he stood up, his legs shaking underneath him but refusing to give in. Determination was written all over his face and with a loud yell he slammed the broken pieces of his staff against each other. His powers were summoned from deep within him, sent down his arms, hands and into the splintered wood. Blue sparks started to glimmer when he felt his strenght fading away.

No, he was so close, he couldn't give up now! Eyes clenched shut and teeth gritted as he let out an animalistic cry and directed every last bit of energy into the staff.

"_Come on, just a little more!"_

His arms as well as the rest of his body were tense and shaking from the effort. Had fixing his staff also been that strenght- and time-consuming when he did it first? Right now he had the impression it would never come to an end. After what seemed like an eternity the blue light vanished and what's left was the restored conduit of the winter spirit's power.

Jack's happiness about his success was cut short when he collapsed on the earthy ground and laid there panting heavily, paralyzed. His body felt like an empty shell, his limbs like rubber, he couldn't move a muscle. The task of merging his staff back together had fully drained the pitiful remainders of his strenght, he couldn't even sit up anymore. All he could do right now was rest until he thought himself capable of doing more than lying flat on his stomach.

He had dozed off for a while when he was woken by the sun shining down on his face. Jack squinted his eyes at the blinding light and rubbed them drowsily. It must have been midday already. He still was far from feeling well but at least he didn't feel like a boneless pile of snow anymore and finally managed to get back on his feet, even though he needed to lean on his staff for support. The long flight to the North Pole wasn't something he was looking forward to but he pushed that thought away and imagined how comfy it would be to lie on the soft sheets of his bed.

"Wind, take me to North's workshop!" he exclaimed and only then noticed how hoarse his voice sounded.

His throat was sore from all the screaming and he cursed himself for not being able to simply shut up. Oh well, nothing he could do to change that now.

The wind picked him up gently, careful to not further hurt its master when it sensed that he was in a bad shape. Jack only hoped the journey would be over as soon as possible, if it had been up to him he would have gone into hibernation for the rest of the year.

* * *

All that kept him awake was the chilling breeze blowing into his face all the way to the Arctic. Whenever he threatened to lose consciousness it jerked him back to his senses, as if telling him to hold on for just a little longer.

After a seemingly endless flight Jack could finally see Santoff Clausen appear in the distance. He sighed in relief and headed straight in the direction where his room was located. To his dismay the window which he had always kept open was firmly closed.

"Oh come ON!" he groaned in frustration and slammed his fist against the glass.

Why couldn't life just give him a break already? The frost teen looked through the window with a grumpy expression and noticed that his room was tidier than it had been when he had left it. The bed was made, the books which had been spread over his desk were put back into the shelf and the empty plates of cookies weren't on his nightstand anymore.

Damn those pedantic yetis with their cleaning bugs.

Now that he did have a room to call his own he didn't like someone else rummaging through it while he was gone. Especially not when they shut down his entrance.

The winter spirit's glance landed again on his bed. So close and yet so far away.

He groaned in annoyance and flew around the building to look for another open window where he could enter. Shortly afterwards he found one but it didn't exactly make him whoop in joy. The globe room. Jack would have prefered to step into a less busy room, he really didn't need any sort of attention right now, all he wanted was to drop dead on his bed. Instead of dashing into the workshop with gusts of icy wind like he usually did the young guardian quietly landed on the windowsill, pulled up his hood and sneaked past the huge globe of belief which towered in the middle of the hall.

So far so good.

"Hey, Jack!"

The winter spirit flinched at the familiar Russian voice. His eyes darted to the corner of the room where North and Bunnymund were sitting at a large wooden table and staring at him.

"What are you waiting for, come here!"

With a deep sigh the young guardian slowly walked towards his friends and hoped dearly that they wouldn't notice his current condition. He didn't want their pity or worry, just a good long sleep. Looking down while approaching them his face was even more hidden by his hood. North didn't seem to mind but Bunny immediately grew suspicious, all of his senses kicking in when he looked at the frost teen. He was leaning heavily on his staff for support, literally dragging himself over the stony floor, although he tried to act like everything was normal. The pooka's sensitive nose twitched at a faint smell he couldn't quite pinpoint. Usually Jack smelled of snow and pine trees, but now there was something else. A mixture of...blood and something burnt maybe? But that didn't make sense, there wasn't any injury visible on the boy as he arrived at their table.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

The Guardian of Hope's assumption that something was wrong was even more reinforced when Jack's voice sounded hoarse, no matter how casual he tried to be. North however either didn't notice or didn't mind and gestured wildly with his arms when he replied.

"Ah, Bunny visited to show off his new metallic rainbow paint! I got to admit it looks fantastic, but he refuses to share it with me so I can try it out on new toys. I wonder who's the _'bloody show pony'_ now, eh?"

A provocating glare was sent in the anthropomorphic rabbit's direction but he just shrugged it off with a snort.

"However, while he's already here we started to discuss topics for next guardian meeting."

There was a short silence until Bunny decided to be straight forward like he always was.

"So what's the matter with ya, mate? Ya look a lil' under the weather."

Slender shoulders jerked nervously at the blunt question and Jack's pale hands grabbed his staff even tighter. In the next moment he relaxed visibly, or at least gave the best performance he could come up with, and shrugged nonchalantly.

"Nah, I was just busy playing with the kids and spreading snowfall and blizzards, guess it was more exhausting than I had thought it would be. Gotta take a little nap and I'll be right as rain again."

Bunnymund didn't buy a word of it. The winter spirit had more energy at his disposal than the four of them combined, the statement that a day of fun and games and his common winter duties were enough to wear him out was nothing short of ridiculous.

The Russian Santa got up from his chair and walked towards the white-haired boy, who instantly diverted his gaze to the floor.

"Then you better get some rest, let me know when you're up again, I made prototypes for new toys and am curious about your opinion." he winked.

"Sure thing, North. Can't wait to see them, I bet they're awesome." Jack smiled.

"That's a good boy, haha!" the Guardian of Wonder exclaimed and patted him on the back.

Much too powerful. As soon as the large hand collided with his back Jack's breath hitched in his throat and a wave of utter pain shot through his whole body. His vision turned blurry as he felt his legs give out under him and there was nothing he could do about it. Bunny reacted in the blink of an eye and jumped towards his falling comrade, catching him around the waist and saving him from an unpleasant encounter with the hard ground. The magical staff dropped out of his grasp as the Australian guardian knelt down with the panting winter spirit in his arms.

"Jack, what's wrong with ya?" the rabbit asked, for once not caring about how concerned he sounded.

After he got no reply, except pale icy fingers grabbing the fur of his chest in obvious pain, he shot a questioning look at North, who was still standing frozen in place next to them. The wide-eyed and shocked look on the large man's face made Bunny's stomach convulse and he followed the Russian's eyes which were focused on the teen's back. If he hadn't been so self-controlled he would have gasped out in horror. Jack's blue hoodie was torn into pieces, charred holes showing equally burnt and bloody skin underneath. Unusually gentle paws slowly pulled the hood off the boy's head, careful to not cause even more harm. North swallowed the lump in his throat and lowered himself next to the other two guardians. Plain worry shone from their faces as they took in the sight in front of them. What had once been silvery white hair was now tinted brownish red, mud covering the young spirit's pale face and dried blood from a wound on his temple clinging to his skin. His eyes were clenched shut as he fought an internal battle against the agony in his body.

"Mate...who did this to ya?" Bunny managed to say after what had seemed like forever.

Again there was no answer, just an exhausted moan coming from the barely conscious teen in his arms. Suddenly North came back out of his catatonic state.

"Does not matter right now, we must patch him up first. We'll beat the hell out of whoever is responsible for this later." the Russian declared with a firm and determined voice.

The Guardian of Hope nodded, for once not feeling the need to argue with the big man, and cautiously lifted the limp form up, making sure he didn't touch the injured back.

Orders were bellowed at the yetis as they hurried upstairs, no second was wasted to get the teen the medical attention he desperately needed. When Bunny realized they were headed towards Jack's room he raised an eyebrow at his companion.

"Wait, why aren't we takin' him to the infirmary instead?"

"Jack's quarters are coldest place in workshop, he'll feel far more comfortable there."

Okay, that was reason enough.

They finally reached the white door with the engraved snowflake and North pushed it open with such force it was slammed against the wall. There was no doubt the hardy Russian was upset and worried beyond imagination. Jack was like a son to him and Bunnymund was sure he was already plotting revenge on the people who battered him.

As soon as they set foot in the room North noticed something out of the ordinary and glared at noone in particular.

"Gah, what idiot closed the windows!? It should be a lot colder in here!" he shouted, stomping towards them and ripping them open.

While two yetis entered the room and placed a tray with several bottles and medical equipment on the nightstand Bunny gently laid the winter spirit down on the bed, being foresightful enough to place him on his side and not on his damaged back. A gust of chilling wind breezed through the open windows but noone, not even the warmth-loving rabbit, complained.

"I pressume ya know how ta deal with burns?"

"Of course, I had plenty experience when I experimented with fire spitting dragon toys a few centuries ago...wasn't my best idea I have to admit."

If the situation hadn't been so grave the pooka would have chuckled at the statement. But his attention was still drawn to his friend, the one he considered both an unbearable nuisance and a little brother at the same time, who seemed to be caught in a state between consciousness and unconsciousness. His eyes randomly flickered open but when they did they only stared into the void. It appeared like he wasn't even aware of someone else being there.

"We must take off shirt to treat his wounds." the old guardian explained.

Together they raised the barely awake teen up into a sitting position and ever so carefully pulled the hoodie over his head. Looks of concern were exchanged between them as they saw Jack's bare upper body for the first time. Of course it had always been obvious that he was of slender build, but now he looked even more fragile and vulnerable than ever before.

North tossed the ruined piece of clothing on a nearby chair, reminding himself to let the yetis fix it later. He dipped a beefy finger into a bowl of water which had been one of the items his fellow helpers had brought. It wasn't cold enough for his liking. With a frown he walked towards the windowsill, grabbed a handful of snow and put it into the bowl. When he decided the temperature was alright he plunged a washcloth into the icy water and poured the contents of a bottle of iodine on it.

"This will hurt, but your wound needs to be cleaned to prevent infection." the Cossack addressed the barely responsive teen and proceeded to do what he had to do.

Dazed blue eyes shot open the moment the ravaged back was touched and a choked gasp rang through the air. The iodine felt like acid burning into his skin. Jack's whole body tensed and turned even more into a fetal position as his fingers crawled the bedsheets and his breathing got unsteady.

The Easter Guardian watched him with increasing concern when he saw beads of cold sweat forming on his pale forehead. Since when could a winter spirit sweat? This wasn't a good sign at all.

While North was focusing on finishing the unpleasant task as quick as possible to not let his young friend suffer for longer than absolutely necessary, Bunnymund hated sitting there and feeling utterly useless. There had to be something he could do.

A miserable whimper coming from the boy in front of him alerted him further and though he would never admit it to anyone he felt his heart wrench when he saw a small tear being forced out of tightly clenched eyes.

In that moment the pooka didn't care about giving his otherwise harsh demeanor a break or his comrades teasing him about it afterwards. He had to do something, no matter how futile it would be. A furry paw was placed on a smaller pale and trembling hand and stroked it with rarely shown kindness.

"Hang on, mate, it's gonna be alright. Soon ya'll be as good as new and cause mischief and annoy the crap outta me again."

Just the slightest indication of a smile formed on the frost teen's face, if Bunny hadn't waited for it he probably wouldn't have noticed. And yet, it was enough to make the rabbit feel a tiny bit relieved. The hand in his grasp released it's death grip on the bedsheets and the frail body relaxed visibly.

North stopped in his tracks and looked at his fellow guardian with a startled expression.

"I think he blacked out." Bunny stated, his eyes not leaving the limp form and his paw staying right where it was. "Maybe better that way."

The Russian Santa nodded in sympathy, who knew what else the boy had gone through in the last few hours, he surely deserved getting some rest and not feeling anymore pain for the time being. After he had finished cleaning the injury he poured a special ointment on his fingers and carefully rubbed it onto the teen's back. With Bunny's help he wrapped bandages around Jack's upper body and when the most severe wound was treated they washed the dirt and blood out of his hair and face and took care of the cut on his temple. Fortunately it wasn't deep and didn't need to be stitched, so they only applied a medium-sized thick band-aid on it.

When they were done with patching their youngest teammember up the two ancient guardians placed him back on the bed so he was lying on his side and covered him with a soft light blanket. They watched the peacefully sleeping form for a little while before they slowly walked out of the room and quietly closed the door behind them.

"Ya really think we should leave him alone right now?" Bunny inquired with barely masked concern.

"He needs rest, we did what we could. Knowing him he'll be his old self again in no time." North in said confident voice.

Luckily for them all immortals had the ability to heal a lot faster than ordinary humans, but it would still take Jack a few days to fully recover. The pooka could already imagine what an unnerving task it would be to convince the Guardian of Fun that he had to stay in bed once he woke up.

"We should notify the others, though. Whoever did this ta him won't escape unscathed, I won't allow it." the large rabbit balled his fists and started to spin a plot about how he would take revenge.

"You're right, we must discuss with Tooth and Sandy what we're going to do about it. I'll go and activate Northern Lights." the Cossack agreed and made his way to the globe room, leaving the Easter guardian behind, who assured him he would join him in a bit.

Before he had realized it his paw had landed on the handle of the door and he stopped in his tracks. Yes, he should let the kid rest but for some reason he felt the need to check on him just once more. The door was opened in slow motion so as not to wake him and quietly shut again to keep the noise of the bustling activity in the workshop out of the room. A chilling breeze ruffled his fur and he shivered in dissapproval. Had it already been so icy in here before? Maybe he had been too upset to notice. Bunnymund snorted as he rubbed his arms with his paws to warm himself up. Green eyes landed on the sleeping form and the pooka walked towards the bed, looking the teen over to make sure he was still alright. Jack's formerly ragged breathing had turned back into a calm and steady rhythm, his facial features were relaxed and he seemed to be at ease, despite his physical condition. The Easter Guardian gently patted the boy's hair, silently promising him that whoever was responsible for this would pay dearly for it. Suddenly Bunny drew his paw back and shook his head in denial.

Since when had he turned into such a...softie? Towards Jack Frost of all people! He had hated the brat's guts for decades, couldn't have cared less about his well-being and wouldn't have given a damn if he had dissappeared from the planet altogether. But things obviously had changed. The bloody show pony could still annoy the hell out of him and wasted no opportunity to tease and bother him, but the thought that someone else laid a hand on him made Bunny's fur stand on end. If he wanted to admit it or not, Jack had become like a little brother to him and noone messed with his family and got away with it.

* * *

**A/N : Before anyone feels the urge to kill me, don't worry, Jack will be fine. And is it obvious that I'm a sucker for Jack's and Bunny's brotherly relationship? :P**


	28. Lessons Learned 3

**A/N :**

** Nora Frost : Let's beat the bastard up together! Mwuahaha! **

** SaiyanPrincess : Me, too, and I love writing about it. ^_^**

** Breyannia : We'll get to the ass-kicking soon.**

** Daughter Earth 89 : Hehe. :)**

** AllieSnow : That will probably scare him just as much as the beating itself. XD**

** Okami1001 : Gotta raise the suspense, hehe. Oh yes, Bunny won't be happy about it.**

** Caithlinn13 : Nothing goes past Bunny, well, at least most of the time.**

** AnonymousPerson : OMG, I like how your mind works, that idea is fantastic! In a very disturbing way. *g***

** AinsleyWright : Phew, yay, I'll stay alive! **

** fanfiction lover 228 : That's what he will ponder on as well, tell or not tell.**

** Wolfrunner99-2 : Sure, I'll come with you! *grabs big kitchen knife***

* * *

"What's wrong, North? Our monthly guardian meeting is in 4 days so why did you call us here? Did anything bad happen?"

The tooth fairy was in a fluster the moment she had flown into the workshop and caught sight of the Russian Santa. He was sitting at a wooden table, gaze lowered in deep thought until he noticed the flash of green feathers zooming towards him. Sandy had entered the globe room only a moment later and joined the other two, silently asking the same question by forming a question mark made of dreamsand over his head. Just as the big man opened his mouth to give his companions an answer one of the doors behind them opened and Bunnymund walked in. Tooth immediately felt that something wasn't right when she saw her friend's expression. There was seriousness written all over his face. Okay, that itself wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but this was a different kind of it, mixed with hardly suppressed concern and anger. The pooka gave them a small nod, his current way of saying hello, and turned to North.

"He's sleeping safe and sound. Have you told the others yet?"

It didn't take more for the Guardian of Memories to put two and two together. As if a switch had been flipped she suddenly turned from midly worried to utterly hysteric.

"Oh my Gods, it's Jack, right? What happened to him? Is he hurt? Will he be alright, oh please tell me he will! Was it Pitch? If so I'm going to- oh he'll wish he would have never been born because I-"

"Woa, Tooth, hold yer horses!" Bunny gestured for her to calm down while Sandy shared her concern, though a lot quieter.

North cleared his throat to get everyone's attention and took a deep breath.

"Jack arrived at the Pole an hour ago and collapsed. He was badly hurt _but_-", he shot a look at the wide-eyed and ready to freak out hummingbird hybrid, "we took care of him and he'll be fine again. All he needs is time to rest and heal."

There was a grave silence for a second before Tooth blurted out what all of them were indeed dying to know.

"Who attacked him?"

"We don't know, Tooth. Jack has been too weak and in too much pain to answer that question yet." the Russian man explained but that didn't really help much to improve her frantic state.

"Oh dear, my poor sweet tooth! Who would do this to him, it must have been Pitch, that bastard probably has just waited for a chance to take revenge on him!"

"No." Bunny stated bluntly and the looks of the other three guardians were diverted to him.

"The injuries Jack sustained don't match with any of Pitch's attacks."

The fairy sensed that she didn't really want to hear the reply but she had to ask the ominous question anyway.

"What kind of injuries are you talking about?"

Green eyes narrowed and furry fists balled ever so slightly as the grey rabbit recalled the events of the last hour in his mind.

"Burns. All over his back. Pitch can't control fire nor does he have any weapons that involve it, so it wasn't him."

Tooth covered her mouth with her hands to muffle a sob at the horrible mental image she got whereas Sandy's expression was turning from shock to silent rage, mimicking the Easter guardian's look. His dreamsand formed the shape of a random person with a question mark covering them and then a fist slamming down on them.

"Yeah, we dunno yet who did it but we're gonna beat the bastard up once we find out." Bunny agreed with clear determination.

More sand images appared over the sandman's head, this time an arrow pointing at himself followed by a plus sign, a tooth, an eye and a snowflake.

"I understand you two want to see Jack, but he's sleeping and needs his rest. We'll let you know when he wakes up. I'm sorry I called you away from your work but we thought you had the right to know. After all, he's one of us." North said in a firm voice.

"We have to do something, whoever did this to him can't just roam free!" Tooth exclaimed, her agitation getting the better of her.

"D'ya think I like this!? I'd like nothing more than beating the crap outta the scumbag but as long as Jack's knocked out cold we have ta be patient. As soon as he's conscious again we'll ask him who attacked him and I assure ya it won't be pretty when I get my hands on the culprit." Bunny shouted and regretted showing so much emotion right after he had finished his little outburst.

Thankfully no one felt like teasing him for his obvious worry. Mainly because they all shared his opinion and agreed that they just had to wait. In the meantime they could still plot what they would do to the one responsible for their youngest teammember's bad condition. At this moment each of the guardians realized even more how much the winter spirit meant to them and that saying they felt protective of him was a clear understatement.

"Alright. But please call us once Jack wakes up and don't do anything until we're here. Promise?" Tooth eventually demanded.

"Will do." North assured.

* * *

The christmas preparations were running at full blast, the workshop bustling even more with activity now that there were only two months left until december 24th. Yetis were working feverishly to finish the new toys and get enough of them done for the children of the world. Of course none of them should come away empty-handed. The furry creatures constantly seeked the approval of their master to make sure their work was alright and to get permission to turn to their next task. North was used to multitasking and tending to all kinds of questions from the yetis at the same time, so that itself didn't prove to be a problem for the Russian Santa.

What lessened his concentration was the fact that Jack still hadn't woken up after almost three days by now. Even though the toy production should have ranked foremost, he checked on the boy every other hour. Sandy had given him a small bag filled with dreamsand before he and Tooth had left, to make sure their young friend would have a pleasant sleep. North sprinkled a bit over the frost teen's head whenever he came to his room. Due to his job and responsibilities he couldn't stay at his protégé's side all the while, but he also didn't want him to be completely alone when he woke up.

So the Cossack persuaded one of the yetis who did mainly paperwork, meaning schedules, charts and plans concerning the toy productions instead of the actual handwork, to move their workstation to the winter spirit's quarters for the time being. Just to make sure someone was there to alert him in case something happened. The yeti grumbled at the demand at first but soon realized that as long as the well-known troublemaker was sound asleep it shouldn't be a big deal.

The other guardians had retreated to their own places, doing their best to focus on their duties but the nagging worry was still apparent in the backs of their minds. All of them had to fight the occasional urge to stomp into Santoff Clausen and ask about the current condition of their youngest comrade. But the Guardian of Wonder had promised to call them so the lack of the Northern Lights in the sky meant that there hadn't been any change yet.

While the sandman and the tooth fairy were convinced the injuries must have been the cause for Jack's slow healing, Bunny and North weren't so sure about it. They had seen the wound and yes, the burn was pretty bad but it couldn't have been the sole reason that made their comrade sleep for so long. Something else must have contributed to his obvious exhaustion.

And still, all they could do was wait.

* * *

"How many times must I tell you, paint trains red and cars blue, not other way around!" North bellowed as he made his way through the halls of the toy production.

He couldn't understand how the yetis still didn't know about his colour preferences after working for him for so many centuries. Suddenly one of the furry creatures, one who didn't belong in this section of the workshop and was currently storming towards him, caught his attention. It was the yeti who had been assigned to keep guard in Jack's room.

"What is matter, why aren't you-" North's question was cut short by flustered gibbering and blue eyes widened as he understood what had happened.

"Jack has woken up?"

The yeti nodded and almost got run over by the big Cossack as he dashed towards the other end of Santoff Clausen.


End file.
